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Statistics on poverty &
food wastage in America

Poverty in America? One of the richest countries in the world?

Yes, poverty is a reality in America, just as it is for millions of other human beings on the planet. According to the US Census Bureau, 35.9 million people live below the poverty line in America, including 12.9 million children.

This is despite abundance of food resources. Almost 100 billion pounds of food is wasted in America each year. 700 million hungry human beings in different parts of the world would have gladly accepted this food.

Here are some statistics on the nature of poverty and the waste of food and money in America.

-According to the Bread for the World Institute 3.5 percent of U.S. households experience hunger. Some people in these households frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for a whole day. 9.6 million people, including 3 million children, live in these homes.

-America's Second Harvest , the nation's largest network of food banks, reports that 23.3 million people turned to the agencies they serve in 2001, an increase of over 2 million since 1997. Forty percent were from working families.

33 million Americans continue to live in households that did not have an adequate supply of food. Nearly one-third of these households contain adults or children who went hungry at some point in 2000.

Wasted food in America

-According to America's Second Harvest, over 41 billion pounds of food have been wasted this year.

-According to a 2004 study from the University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson, on average, American households waste 14 percent of their food purchases.

Fifteen percent of that includes products still within their expiration date but never opened. Timothy Jones, an anthropologist at the UA Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology who led the study, estimates an average family of four currently tosses out $590 per year, just in meat, fruits, vegetables and grain products.

Nationwide, Jones says, household food waste alone adds up to $43 billion, making it a serious economic problem.

- Official surveys indicate that every year more than 350 billion pounds of edible food is available for human consumption in the United States. Of that total, nearly 100 billion pounds - including fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, and grain products - are lost to waste by retailers, restaurants, and consumers.

-According to a 1997 study by US Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS) entitled "Estimating and Addressing America's Food Losses", about 96 billion pounds of food, or more than a quarter of the 356 billion pounds of edible food available for human consumption in the United States, was lost to human use by food retailers, consumers, and foodservice establishments in 1995.

Fresh fruits and vegetables, fluid milk, grain products, and sweeteners (mostly sugar and high-fructose corn syrup) accounted for two-thirds of the losses. 16 billion pounds of milk and 14 billion pounds of grain products are also included in this loss.

Food that could have gone to millions

According to the US Department of Agriculture, up to one-fifth of America's food goes to waste each year, with an estimated 130 pounds of food per person ending up in landfills. The annual value of this lost food is estimated at around $31 billion But the real story is that roughly 49 million people could have been fed by those lost resources.

• Proportion of Americans living below the poverty level: 12.7 percent (34.5 million people)
• The average poverty threshold for a family of four: $16,660 in annual income
• The average poverty threshold for a family of three: $13,003 in annual income
• Poverty rate for metropolitan areas: 12.3 percent
• Poverty rate for those living inside central cities: 18.5 percent
• Poverty rate for those living in the suburbs: 8.7 percent
• Percentage and number of poor children: 18.9 percent (13.5 million)
• Children make up 39 percent of the poor and 26 percent of the total population.
• The poverty rate for children is higher than for any other age group.

Child poverty:

• -for children under age 6 living in families with a female householder and no husband present: 54.8 percent
• -for children under age 6 in married-couple families: 10.1 percent
• Poverty rate for African Americans: 26.1 percent
• Poverty rate for Asians and Pacific Islanders: 12.5 percent
• Poverty rate for Hispanics of any race: 25.6 percent
• Poverty rate for non-Hispanic whites: 8.2 percent

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The ability to communicate with people whose speech is limited by mental deficiency is actually a skill that can be developed over time with practice. Whether you deal with mentally challenged speakers often or rarely, this advice will help you to communicate more effectively and smoothly.

Steps

1. Maintain a calm, low volume. Speaking louder doesn't make you more understandable.
2. When determining "age-appropriateness" of your words, remember that you must know the "mental age" of your listener, not his or her "calendar age." Remember: they are just mentally challenged, not a person with a limited vocabulary such as a five-year-old.
3. Do not cover or hide your mouth because listeners will want to watch you as you pronounce your words. This helps them figure out what you are saying in many cases.
4. Do not mimic how the mentally challenged speaker pronounces words, in a misguided presumption that he or she will "understand" if you speak like he or she does. This does not make you easier to understand. It will confuse your listener and may give the wrong impression about your sensitivity to his or her handicap.
5. Avoid running words together. For example, don't say "Do-ya wanna eat-a pizza?". One of the biggest challenges for listeners is knowing where one word ends and the next one begins. Give them a small pause between words if they seem to be struggling.
6. When possible, opt for simple words instead of ones that are complex. The more basic a word is, the better the chance is that it will be understood. "Big" is a better choice than "enormous" for example. "Make" is a better choice than "manufacture."
7. Avoid speech complexity which is beyond your mentally challenged listener's comprehension level. Use simple subject-verb-object statements with the significantly retarded. More mildly retarded people may be able to handle more complex forms, such as joined independent clauses.
8. Look them in the eye. It lets them know that you care about what you are saying. Although they may rarely make eye contact with you, try to act like you really are interested in what they are talking about.

Tips

• The most important thing to remember is to treat a person with a disability with respect. Don't treat them as inferior. Remember, they have feelings just like you. Remember that the person you are talking to isn't stupid, he is challenged with something you will never understand. This person is challenged in their ability to understand, communicate or decipher. This person is different.
• Patience is the key.
• Be aware that you must listen and observe the person you are speaking to. In most cases communicating with a person with a disability is very much like learning how to understand an accent. Be ready to adjust your communication style in a respectful way when necessary.
• Treat them as close as possible as you would a "normal" person, except use age-appropriate words. Otherwise, they may sense something is up.
• Smile to show them you're enjoying their company.
• Be aware of the tone of your voice - is it patronizing? Are you speaking with the tone you would use for a child? Adjust accordingly.