
DOVER, Tenn., June 2, 2008
Snapshots Of Struggle In The Food Line
Economy Driving People Who Wouldn't Have Imagined They'd Be Struggling To Desperate Measures
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Waiting In The Food Line
Seth Doane reports from Dover, Tennessee, where many families who never thought it could happen to them are finding themselves waiting in free food lines.
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Photo
This mobile pantry, and the others they've had in Dover, Tenn., was made possible by Second Harvest, which loaded up about 10,000 lbs. of food 90 miles away in Nashville. (CBS)
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Donated food at a bank in Tallahasee, Fla. (AP)
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"Are there days that you …" CBS News correspondent Seth Doane began asking.
"That we don't eat?" Liz Thomas said while standing in line at a food pantry. "Yeah."
"Why is it getting more difficult?" Doane asked.
"Gas prices. Milk is just as expensive as gas these days - it's just really hard," food recipient Stephanie Smith said, tearing up. "I'm sorry."
Most of these people never imagined they'd wind up waiting in a food line.
"I think the best thing that people can do is stand back and pray - pray for better times," recipient Cynthia Graybill said.
Pray - and pitch in. People come from all over the county - the ones who don't need help volunteer to help those who do.
One volunteer, Wanda Stinson, said: "When they hug you and say 'I have one can of corn in my cabinet for the rest of the month,' you go to bed that night saying, 'oh thank you, lord, I was able to help that family.'"
The mobile pantry, and the others they've had in Dover, Tenn., was made possible by Second Harvest, which loaded up about 10,000 lbs. of food 90 miles away in Nashville.
For the organizer, getting the word out proves to be its own challenge.Learn more about Second Harvest's effort to feed the hungry at its Web site.
Read more about this story and the series at Couric & Co.
"There's probably been, like, 40 people who've had their phones disconnected since the last time," said organizer Linda Hagen. "I think they're giving up their phones for food and gas."
One local factory moved to Mexico - another just canceled a shift. And the number of families signing up for food has almost doubled since last October.
In line, Doane met a woman named Georgia Bumpus. She started cleaning houses when she couldn't find an office job, but now she's become a luxury.
She said: "People have said, 'well, can we afford to have a housekeeper? when we might, you know, need that money for gas or for groceries ourselves.'"
Stephanie Smith had to leave her minimum-wage job because her salary didn't cover the cost of her commute and child care.
"This is hard to have your kids watch their parents go through this," Smith said.
The lucky ones are on one side of the table, giving out the food. But they know there's not much separating them from the other side.
"The scary thing is, it could be you," said Kelli Garrett of Second Harvest of Middle Tennessee. "We find so much more that folks who said I never thought that this would be me, I never thought I'd need food are needing help."
"Did you ever think you'd be standing in a line like this?" Doane asked.
"No," said Bumpus. "And it's humbling. It's humbling."
Humbling or not, there won't be a line to stand in much longer.
The state money that funded the program runs out at the end of the month. And that hasn't been renewed.
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Learn more about Second Harvest's effort to feed the hungry at its Web site.
Read more about this story and the series at Couric & Co.



thanks
foreign aid. When that happens, well off fat cats like Limbaugh, Hannity, Gibson, etc will ridicude these offers but the ordinary folks will not. Just think what it took to get us to that point.
We can work ourselves out of this mess but to do that, we will have to bite the bullet and make tremendous sacrifices. We are not at that point yet.
Hope you never need help and never say never... it could happen to you.
The smug and haughty types will more than likely join the humble and downtrodden before things are over and I suspect the latter group will conduct themselves nobly while the former will whine and snivel.
I saw this CBS news feature about 15 minutes ago. o.k. I need to be careful for asking this but it really really puzzles me. All of the people standing in the foodlines were morbidly obese. That really bothers me for some reason. Not that you have to look starving but it just looked like a "what''''s wrong with this picture" moment.
There was a summer some years back where I literally had only $20 to spend on food each week. When you have to live on the cheapest food, it is generally not very healthy food and tends to be high in fat, calories and preservatives...Causing poor health, weight gain...People who are poor are not having great fresh spinach salads everyday, they''re eating cheap filler...i''ll bet they eat tons of mac n'' cheese...
maybe those people in line could start a community garden and supplement their diets that way...when you grow a garden it improves your health in many, many ways.
rudy2281 love your post. You are probably right some don''t need it, but like you said you help anyway. The Karma police are watching.
trenticus, love your ideas! Don%u2019t forget to plant some grains for the horse and cow eat %uF04A
thanks
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Not making excuses for anyone, but here''s my take on your question. Malnutrition is just a fancy word for BAD nutrition; it doesn''t necessarily mean "no food." Eating foods that are high fat/high calorie, but lower in nutritional value (which tend to be cheaper) is just as bad for you as not eating enough food. Cheap cuts of meat have a lot of fat and gristle and may cost half of what a leaner, healthier cut of meat does. Likewise, the cheapest packaged foods are those that have the lowest nutritional value. These are the items that low income people tend to purchase, which is one reason why so many "poor" people seem to be very overweight. They are not "starving," per se, but they are very malnouished.
Just my $0.02.
Yeah, and Tennessee has a Democrat governor and legislature. Plenty of blame to go around - on both sides.
Second Harvest, by the way, is an outstanding program. God bless these people.
Posted by libsluv2spit
That''s right, my whole agenda is nothingn more than simply whinning, complaining and bit ching..ABOUT EVERYTHING.. that is wrong, unfair, and unethical about this country and the people in charge of it.
In any case, more work(outs), less handouts seems like a good thing all the way around.
In any case, more work(outs), less handouts seems like a good thing all the way around.
To rleary1234: read the article. It doesn''t say anything about people giving up cell phones is just says phones. Many of these people have to shut off their home phones to buy food.
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This guy is a F**king Idiot!
Oh, I''m sorry, it was a Richard Cheney slip.....
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by rleary1234
June 5, 2008 6:33 PM PDT
- ljrader states: Why do so many people assume that the cause of being obese is overeating? Many people do not have the means to buy fresh fruit and vegetable or to have the money for diet clubs and special diet food. Going on and staying on a diet involves menu planning. Most of the hungry people cannot be so selective.
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See all 42 CommentsI beg to differ but staying under-weight doesn''t require special foods, vegetables, or diet foods. It requires self esteem and especially education. So many Americans are fat now and told that "It''s o.k. we''re all the same.." blah blah blah. It''s o.k. to be morbidly obese but it sure isn''t healthy. Most of the 1,200 people I work with starting around age 17 are obese and huge. They spend most of their time talking/texting on their cellphones and only take a break to go online and look at themselves on "myspace". I don''t believe that one of them could tell you anything about History, Geography, or even what happened in the world a week ago. I pray that there are enough smart future Americans that can help our great nation flourish... And be thin and fit! Anyone out there that takes offense to this is probably obese. Yes, it could be a "gland problem" but if it''s your "saliva gland" I''m not responsible for your weight problem. And please don''t wear all of the new tight fashions.