| A whopping 15% of New Yorkers can't afford daily | | | | enough to feed her three children between the ages |
| food. Of 8.2 million people, about 1.2 million increasingly | | | | of 6 and 14... |
| rely on charity meals. | | | | Or Mark, who lost his professional job and went to |
| Raw numbers illustrate the growing gulf between rich | | | | work juggling three part-time jobs. His family had to |
| and poor. In 2006: | | | | rely on free food after the kids' college funds were |
| - Wall Street Bankers collected $24 billion in bonuses. | | | | exhausted. |
| - The city's streets were home to 3,800 homeless. | | | | The Gap between Rich and Poor Grows |
| - More than 1.6 million adults earned less than $10,000, | | | | The sad fact is that Americans work more hours than |
| the national poverty line. | | | | any other industrialized nation. France, for example, has |
| - Over 475,000 children live below the poverty line. | | | | laws that limit the workweek to 35 hours. |
| - Over 380,000 children rely on free food to survive. | | | | And still, at the CIA World Factbook, the economic |
| More than 1,200 soup kitchens and food pantries | | | | profile for the United States explains, "Since 1975, |
| across the city are currently providing food for these | | | | practically all the gains in household income have gone |
| people who can't afford it. | | | | to the top 20 percent of households." |
| Faces of the Hungry | | | | The USA now has 37 million out of 300 million people |
| Contrary to popular belief, most of the hungry are not | | | | living below the poverty line. That's the combined |
| welfare deadbeats; most are working parents, children, | | | | populations of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, |
| and senior citizens who just can't make ends meet | | | | and Arkansas. The US infant mortality rate compares |
| anymore. | | | | with Malaysia's. |
| As noted on the Food Bank for New York City's online | | | | And while median household income falls, congress |
| site, New York's 1.2 million hungry are made up of | | | | passes more tax cuts for corporations and the |
| people like Raymond, who lives with his school-aged | | | | wealthy, cuts funding for Medicaid and other safety |
| son and disabled wife in a one-bedroom apartment... | | | | nets, and each year asks for billions of supplemental |
| Or Gina, who is working two jobs, but still doesn't earn | | | | dollars to fund an illegal war. |