June 6, 2008
Singapore's poor turn to temples to fill bellies
SINGAPORE - WEARING a pair of worn grey slippers and dirty Bermuda shorts, Mr Quek hungrily chews mouthfuls of free vegetarian noodles on the second-level canteen of a Singapore temple.
The unemployed 31-year-old is one of many Singaporeans increasingly turning to free meals at temples to fill their stomachs, as surging global commodity prices hurt, even in a country that is one of the richest in Asia.
The Singapore Buddhist Lodge, where Mr Quek eats every day, is now serving up to 5,000 people on weekends. It has seen a 30 per cent rise this year in the number of people coming for meals, as well as a rise in donations.
'We saw the increase happen when the markets started to go bad and inflation started rising,' said Mr Lee Bock Guan, the temple's president. The Buddhist Lodge cooks about 400 kg of rice every day and up to 10 vegetarian dishes to serve to the masses.
Long lines of strained faces wait inside to scoop up ladles of rice, noodles and stir-fried dishes. They then stand next to walls to shovel in the food if they can't find a spot at packed tables.
Most are elderly or labourers, in a country that has the second highest GDP per capita in Asia after Japan but ranks alongside the Philippines and Guatemala for income disparity.
Singapore says combating inflation, at a 26-year high, is a priority and the government is worried about a widening income gap. A dozen opposition party members were arrested earlier this year for protesting about rising prices.
The government says welfare should not be a crutch and there are no food subsidies, unemployment benefit or minimum wage.
Buddhist, Christian, Taoist and Sikh organisations in Singapore give out free food to help the poor. The country is 54 per cent Buddhist, 13 per cent Christian and 15 per cent Muslim.
Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, which gives free meals to about 200 people daily, has also seen a rise in numbers.
'We don't count how much it has gone up, we just keep cooking. Once one batch is finished, we keep refilling,' said Mr Sheng Hua, spokesman for the monastery.
Food prices have been a key driver of Singapore's annual inflation hitting 7.5 per cent, the highest since 1982. Global rice, corn and wheat prices have all hit records this year.
'I have no choice. You go outside and eat, food now is very expensive. Here it's free so I can save a bit of money,' Mr Quek told reporters.
At the Central Sikh Temple, which serves free vegetarian Indian meals to 600 daily, the rising cost of food is affecting handouts.
'Our costs have doubled since last year. We are already curtailing the number of hours we give away food. We will have to be more prudent - if it really gets out of hand, we may have to reduce further,' said Mr Dilbagh Singh, vice president of Central Sikh Gurdwara Board. -- REUTERS
June 6, 2008
Downturn forces more in US to rely on free food
MONROE (Georgia)/DOUGLAS (Arizona) - IN the richest nation on earth, a rising number of people line up for free food because they are struggling to put meals on the table at home.
Demand at food banks in the United States is up 15 per cent to 20 per cent over last year and many food banks are having difficulty coping, according to America's Second Harvest, the largest United States food bank provider with 200 in its network.
Food bank networks procure nonperishable and fresh produce from suppliers, then stock it in warehouses before distributing it via a chain of community food banks across the country.
The total number of people who use them is not known but the upward trend is one sign of a US economic downturn in which soaring fuel costs and the rising price of other basic goods have pushed many people on low incomes or without jobs into hardship.
The banks say more people with steady jobs are turning up at their centers to wait in line, fill out forms and collect rations of free or reduced-price food. In a parallel development demand for government food stamps is also rising.
'Having a (low wage) job isn't enough anymore. Having two or three jobs isn't enough anymore,' said Ms Marcia Paulson, spokesman for Great Plains Food Bank in North Dakota, where nearly half the households receiving food stamp benefits have one or more working adults.
Ms Olga Medina's story illustrates the dilemma for many on low wages who said they considered their need to resort to free food a humiliation in a country that prides itself on independence and stresses work as a sure route to success.
Ms Medina works full time providing homecare for old people in Douglas, on Arizona's border with Mexico. She said she earns US$1,100 (S$1,500) a month with which she also supports her parents and a sick son, but is unable to make ends meet due to rising food and fuel costs.
Most weeks she forages for milk, fruit and vegetables in dumpsters outside the Safeway supermarket. One day last month she waited in line with 147 others outside the Douglas Area Food Bank for a grocery handout because she had no bread.
'We have to put up with a lot of humiliation just to survive,' she said, putting on a pair of sunglasses to hide tears. 'It's not dignified but we are hungry and hunger is ugly.'
Providing food
At a giant warehouse in Monroe, Georgia, scores of volunteers and paid workers using fork lifts or pallet jacks load food onto big trucks - everything from carrots to frozen spare ribs to canned goods.
The warehouse is part of Angel Food Ministries, a national organisation headquartered in Monroe that offers food at half price to people who need it. A typical food pack contains US$60 of family groceries and is sold for US$30.
The organisation, which is linked to a church, purchases food in bulk at a discount and passes the savings on to 500,000 families a month who use its service in 35 states, distributing through a network of churches.
Its founder, Mr Joseph Wingo, argued that perceptions that the US economy was doing better than is reported failed to take into account a different reality for millions of Americans, not least senior citizens.
'Go into any community that has been devastated by job losses and you will find there's more people (struggling to provide food) than you think,' said Mr Wingo, who set up the organisation in response to demand in Monroe.
Broken dreams
For Ms Selena Lewis, 28, who owns a boutique in Alpharetta, Georgia, going to the North Atlanta Community Food Bank brings an added irony - just last year she donated some of her money to the bank as an act of charity.
But the downturn has stifled demand at her boutique and some days she makes just a single sale, not enough to pay off debts and feed herself and her son and leading to a dilemma about whether to close the boutique and seek other work.
'I don't want to give up on my dream because the hardest thing to do is to start,' said Ms Lewis who said she gave up a high-paying corporate marketing job to start the boutique.
Her story illustrates how small business owners are caught up in the downturn, but problems exist at the other end of the spectrum of age and opportunity.
Standing in line at the Douglas food bank was Ms Brenda Salazar, a neatly dressed woman of retirement age, who worked for 25 years as a nursing assistant in the city.
Now disabled, she receives US$944 a month in benefits and food stamps, but after paying rent, utilities and gassing up her car, she had just US$16 for food to tide her over.
'I bought a gallon of milk, I bought a bag of green onions and a bag of grapes. It was US$17. It was three items .... Now I have to pray that God will put gas in my car.' -- REUTERS
Singapore's poor turn to temples to fill bellies
SINGAPORE - WEARING a pair of worn grey slippers and dirty Bermuda shorts, Mr Quek hungrily chews mouthfuls of free vegetarian noodles on the second-level canteen of a Singapore temple.
The unemployed 31-year-old is one of many Singaporeans increasingly turning to free meals at temples to fill their stomachs, as surging global commodity prices hurt, even in a country that is one of the richest in Asia.
The Singapore Buddhist Lodge, where Mr Quek eats every day, is now serving up to 5,000 people on weekends. It has seen a 30 per cent rise this year in the number of people coming for meals, as well as a rise in donations.
'We saw the increase happen when the markets started to go bad and inflation started rising,' said Mr Lee Bock Guan, the temple's president. The Buddhist Lodge cooks about 400 kg of rice every day and up to 10 vegetarian dishes to serve to the masses.
Long lines of strained faces wait inside to scoop up ladles of rice, noodles and stir-fried dishes. They then stand next to walls to shovel in the food if they can't find a spot at packed tables.
Most are elderly or labourers, in a country that has the second highest GDP per capita in Asia after Japan but ranks alongside the Philippines and Guatemala for income disparity.
Singapore says combating inflation, at a 26-year high, is a priority and the government is worried about a widening income gap. A dozen opposition party members were arrested earlier this year for protesting about rising prices.
The government says welfare should not be a crutch and there are no food subsidies, unemployment benefit or minimum wage.
Buddhist, Christian, Taoist and Sikh organisations in Singapore give out free food to help the poor. The country is 54 per cent Buddhist, 13 per cent Christian and 15 per cent Muslim.
Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, which gives free meals to about 200 people daily, has also seen a rise in numbers.
'We don't count how much it has gone up, we just keep cooking. Once one batch is finished, we keep refilling,' said Mr Sheng Hua, spokesman for the monastery.
Food prices have been a key driver of Singapore's annual inflation hitting 7.5 per cent, the highest since 1982. Global rice, corn and wheat prices have all hit records this year.
'I have no choice. You go outside and eat, food now is very expensive. Here it's free so I can save a bit of money,' Mr Quek told reporters.
At the Central Sikh Temple, which serves free vegetarian Indian meals to 600 daily, the rising cost of food is affecting handouts.
'Our costs have doubled since last year. We are already curtailing the number of hours we give away food. We will have to be more prudent - if it really gets out of hand, we may have to reduce further,' said Mr Dilbagh Singh, vice president of Central Sikh Gurdwara Board. -- REUTERS
June 6, 2008
Downturn forces more in US to rely on free food
MONROE (Georgia)/DOUGLAS (Arizona) - IN the richest nation on earth, a rising number of people line up for free food because they are struggling to put meals on the table at home.
Demand at food banks in the United States is up 15 per cent to 20 per cent over last year and many food banks are having difficulty coping, according to America's Second Harvest, the largest United States food bank provider with 200 in its network.
Food bank networks procure nonperishable and fresh produce from suppliers, then stock it in warehouses before distributing it via a chain of community food banks across the country.
The total number of people who use them is not known but the upward trend is one sign of a US economic downturn in which soaring fuel costs and the rising price of other basic goods have pushed many people on low incomes or without jobs into hardship.
The banks say more people with steady jobs are turning up at their centers to wait in line, fill out forms and collect rations of free or reduced-price food. In a parallel development demand for government food stamps is also rising.
'Having a (low wage) job isn't enough anymore. Having two or three jobs isn't enough anymore,' said Ms Marcia Paulson, spokesman for Great Plains Food Bank in North Dakota, where nearly half the households receiving food stamp benefits have one or more working adults.
Ms Olga Medina's story illustrates the dilemma for many on low wages who said they considered their need to resort to free food a humiliation in a country that prides itself on independence and stresses work as a sure route to success.
Ms Medina works full time providing homecare for old people in Douglas, on Arizona's border with Mexico. She said she earns US$1,100 (S$1,500) a month with which she also supports her parents and a sick son, but is unable to make ends meet due to rising food and fuel costs.
Most weeks she forages for milk, fruit and vegetables in dumpsters outside the Safeway supermarket. One day last month she waited in line with 147 others outside the Douglas Area Food Bank for a grocery handout because she had no bread.
'We have to put up with a lot of humiliation just to survive,' she said, putting on a pair of sunglasses to hide tears. 'It's not dignified but we are hungry and hunger is ugly.'
Providing food
At a giant warehouse in Monroe, Georgia, scores of volunteers and paid workers using fork lifts or pallet jacks load food onto big trucks - everything from carrots to frozen spare ribs to canned goods.
The warehouse is part of Angel Food Ministries, a national organisation headquartered in Monroe that offers food at half price to people who need it. A typical food pack contains US$60 of family groceries and is sold for US$30.
The organisation, which is linked to a church, purchases food in bulk at a discount and passes the savings on to 500,000 families a month who use its service in 35 states, distributing through a network of churches.
Its founder, Mr Joseph Wingo, argued that perceptions that the US economy was doing better than is reported failed to take into account a different reality for millions of Americans, not least senior citizens.
'Go into any community that has been devastated by job losses and you will find there's more people (struggling to provide food) than you think,' said Mr Wingo, who set up the organisation in response to demand in Monroe.
Broken dreams
For Ms Selena Lewis, 28, who owns a boutique in Alpharetta, Georgia, going to the North Atlanta Community Food Bank brings an added irony - just last year she donated some of her money to the bank as an act of charity.
But the downturn has stifled demand at her boutique and some days she makes just a single sale, not enough to pay off debts and feed herself and her son and leading to a dilemma about whether to close the boutique and seek other work.
'I don't want to give up on my dream because the hardest thing to do is to start,' said Ms Lewis who said she gave up a high-paying corporate marketing job to start the boutique.
Her story illustrates how small business owners are caught up in the downturn, but problems exist at the other end of the spectrum of age and opportunity.
Standing in line at the Douglas food bank was Ms Brenda Salazar, a neatly dressed woman of retirement age, who worked for 25 years as a nursing assistant in the city.
Now disabled, she receives US$944 a month in benefits and food stamps, but after paying rent, utilities and gassing up her car, she had just US$16 for food to tide her over.
'I bought a gallon of milk, I bought a bag of green onions and a bag of grapes. It was US$17. It was three items .... Now I have to pray that God will put gas in my car.' -- REUTERS
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