However, when families and family members are struggling to make sure they can afford the basic necessities, we can be in danger of becoming even more stressed and fractured as a society than we already are.
It's not a coincidence I suspect that we celebrate two of Norwich's most popular food festivals in September which is Hunger Action Month and we should take a cue from the calendar in lending a hand to those in need.
Feeding America's Pass the Plate initiative will not, even if fully successful, end food insecurity across our country and in many areas of our state but will better enable those of us who have been blessed in sharing some of what we have with those who are in need.
One time donations of cash or food to the Connecticut Food Band or to support the work of the Saint Vincent de Paul Place Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen are always welcomed and helpful but in many respects, they are no more than attempting to bail out the ocean with a teaspoon. If we each took onboard one suggestion from their Food Frenzy website, we could make hunger history by the end of the day.
Perhaps lost in your Labor Day weekend was the release of the 2018 Connecticut United Way's ALICE Report. ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. It is a somber and sobering reminder that headlines about joblessness rates and stock market indices to the contrary, these are for many of us hard times in the land of plenty.
Even here in The Land of Steady Habits with the highest median per-capita income of all 50 states, 40% of households have income below what's needed to pay for the basic necessities of housing, food, child care, health-care, technology, and transportation.
Simply put, the report highlights the deepening financial challenges across our state that are requiring (so many) more working and middle-class families to make tough choices every day as they struggle to manage their household budgets.
I'm not talking about those we see at highway intersections or shopping center entrances clutching cardboard signs asking for help as we hurry past preoccupied with our own lives, but people we know, or should know of, in our own neighborhoods: working parents who must choose between quality child care and healthy food for their children; young adults working two or more jobs to make rent and retirement age adults choosing between a trip to the doctor or a home or auto repair. Every one of them making difficult choices every day.
Each of us can not only make a difference but we can be the difference, strengthening our communities and one another, one person at a time.
-bill kenny
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