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September 7, 2006
By LEE BEACH
H&N Staff Writer
The economy in the Klamath Basin and around the nation may be improving, but
it isn't helping people living on fixed incomes.
The cost of heating homes last winter
skyrocketed with an increase in oil and natural gas prices, leaving many
people - especially the elderly and disabled - without money to buy food. Some
were forced to choose between purchasing their medications and eating, said
Niki Sampson, director of the Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank.
Requests for food by the elderly and disabled from the Klamath-Lake Counties
Food Bank are up 15 percent this year, she said.
“Our economy is doing well, and we're
seeing households get back on their feet,” Sampson said. “But there are
people whose lives will never change. They can't go back to school or work.
They're seniors or disabled.”
The local food bank provided food boxes to 817 senior households in the last
fiscal year.
Some were once stay-at-home mothers who didn't work, so their Social Security
benefit is minimal. There are widows whose husbands didn't earn much money and
their federal benefit also is small.
People who had never asked for help before appeared at the food bank this
year, Sampson said. One man came in recently whose South Suburban Sanitary
bill had gone up significantly. He was on a fixed income and didn't have
enough money left to buy food that month. He sat in the office of Linda Bland,
who does intake interviews, asking for help.
“That gentleman sat in my office and cried. People from that generation are
so proud,” Bland said. “Eighty percent of the seniors I talk to probably
don't have income over $1,000 a month, usually from Social Security and
sometimes veteran's pension.”
Numbers double
The number of people served by the food bank has nearly doubled since 2001, the first year the irrigation water was cut off to the farmers on the Reclamation Project.
“During the water crisis, we went from serving 5,000 to
12,000 people. Now we on average serve 10,000 people a month,” Sampson said.
She ticked off other figures from the fiscal year which just ended, figures
which are more accurate because of a new computer software program. She can
search for specific types of households and persons served by the food bank.
There are 100 households of people who have just moved here and need
assistance. There are people served who work but their wages are garnished,
usually for child support. There are 40 households of homeless persons, some
living in tents, who get help. Some terminally ill are served, “so they can
concentrate on their quality of life, themselves and their loved ones - not
choosing between paying for their medical prescriptions, living expenses and
food,” states the most recent report.
Recipients are screened and
cross-checked with other food bank locations to reduce abuse.
“This is an income-eligible program, not entitlement,” Sampson said.
In 1,110 of the households served this year, there was at
least one child under the age of 18.
About 40 households in northern Modoc County received assistance from the
local food bank.
“Northern California is the
red-headed stepchild of California. The people there shop here. They're in our
economic base. There are not enough resources in California, and logistically,
it's more sensible to come here. They're not going to drive to Redding.”
Serving broad area
Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank serves
an 18,000-square-mile area, providing 19 emergency food assistance programs in
25 communities from Chemult to New Pine Creek to Tulelake.
In addition to emergency food assistance, the food bank assists other
nonprofit programs, in a proactive way, believing that it “can be a partner
in making a crucial difference in the outcome of a child's development or an
adult's future. This is truly the way to get to the root causes of hunger.”
Twenty-five nonprofits, including the Klamath County Senior Center, Klamath
Crisis Center, High Desert Hospice and Spokes Unlimited, benefit through the
food provided for hot meals.
In 2003, the food bank implemented a “hand up” program to help low-income
single and married parents trying to improve their lives by going to college.
Counselors at Oregon Institute of Technology and Klamath Community College can
tell students if they are eligible.
Northern California food banks operate differently, with the state divided
into small areas, each serving only itself. There is no central food bank as
there is in Oregon.
Modoc County
TEACH (Training, Employment and Community Help), is a nonprofit entity in
Alturas, serving residents in Modoc County with shelter, in-home services,
energy assistance and food bank needs. Each service of the organization is
supported by a separate grant through the Modoc-Siskiyou Community Agency.
Debbie Hess, serving as assistant emergency services coordinator of TEACH, has
seen a 21 percent increase in seniors seeking food assistance in the first six
months of 2006 as compared to the same time period in 2005.
“Seniors are the last ones who ask for help, compared to the younger people
who come before they've even looked for work,” she said. “They're a proud
generation.”
Energy costs have been a factor all areas of the assistance they provide,
according to Hess. Where they used to be able to provide three to four gas
vouchers per year to a client, now they can only give one.
Siskiyou County
Denise Broomfield, executive director of Siskiyou Food Assistance Corporation,
is responsible for providing food to various food pantries to distribute to
the hungry in Siskiyou County. But the program relies solely on community food
drives.
“We have an increased need for food in our area in all categories, not just
seniors,” she said. “I have the problem of not being able to serve
everyone because I just don't have the food. We have been cut off from every
possible avenue at this time. I have had to cut my service down from 12 boxes
per year to three boxes per year.
“So even though my statistics this year will look like we served much less,
we actually have an increased need. California is just a mess when it comes to
small areas such as Siskiyou County.”
In 2005, Siskiyou Food Assistance served 2,713 people living in 1,297
households. Of those, 160 families were homeless, 473 families had no income,
212 relied on Social Security and 219 relied on SSI, disability income.
Broomfield agreed energy costs have contributed to the increased needs,
especially for seniors and others on fixed incomes.
The picture in Klamath and Lake counties is more encouraging than in Siskiyou
and Modoc, not because the need is not as great, but because of the state food
bank and what Sampson calls “the awesome way the community supports us.”
Most needed food items
