Who cares for the poor?

This morning I attended a breakfast, sponsored by Connecticut Nonprofits, with several state legislators from the Hartford area.

State Representative Matt Ritter said, "We can't cut our way out of this.  We need to make rational, reasonable choices that include revenue enhancements."

State Representative Andy Fleischman said, "We don't say 'it's tough times, so we're going to serve fewer people.'  Instead we say, 'it's tough times, so we need to serve more people in need.'"

I offered a comment to the legislators that the most important thing they could do in these tough times is to get SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) working the way it should.  We know that 30% of Connecticut residents who are eligible for this program do not receive the benefit, often due to the bureaucracy of difficult forms and processes at the state level.

In recent years, Foodshare has found that we are serving more and more people who are just above the income limits for programs like SNAP, but who still need help in order to feed their families.  This may make sense - to have the private, nonprofit sector take care of the needs of those people caught in between poverty and the middle class and have government programs take care of the poorest of the poor.  But it only makes sense if government really is taking care of the poorest among us.  Right now, nonprofits are trying to care for both groups.  And we don't have enough food, enough money, or enough volunteers to do the job!