MA food pantry use on the rise

This article, from the Boston Globe, describes how food pantry use in Massachusetts has increased 23 % since 2006. This makes sense because of the recession and drastic increase in unemployment in the recent years. The article also interviews people dependent on food pantries; one of them said that if it weren't for these food banks, they wouldn't have the means to eat at all. This paints a heartbreaking picture of how hunger really affects people in our home state. A study performed in Massachusetts determined that a whopping 80% of families do not have "consistent access to food." The last part of the article was particularly interesting to me- Jessie, a mother from Boxborough (which is next to my hometown Acton) told the interviewer that she feels there is a negative stigma attached to people who need to resort to food pantries and outside assistance. She was traveling to towns a few miles away, Sudbury and Stowe, but came back to Acton because she felt she wasn't treated with dignity in the outside towns. It's horrifying to think that she felt uncomfortable trying to feed her family due to feeling like she was part of a lower status, human-wise, than those providing the help. I am glad she found a food pantry in my hometown that treated her with the respect she deserves. We all need to keep in mind that no one is invincible from our country's economic woes; you could be lining up at your nearest food pantry next week. You never know what's going to happen.

Read the full article here