Food Bank of NE La

On average about 16.9% of the 4,468,976 people living in Louisiana are classified as living below the official poverty level. The national average is 12.1%. It is easy to see that the poverty level is, when expressed as a percent of total population, 39% higher in Louisiana than it is in the nation at large. In the twelve parishes of Northeast Louisiana average poverty rate is 23.3 percent That is almost double the national average and 37% higher than the state average. Poverty in Northeast Louisiana ranges from a low of 17.6% in Jackson Parish to a high of 42.7% in East Carroll Parish. If you could walk past each and every citizen in Northeast Louisiana, just about every fourth person would be living in poverty.

Of the half million elderly living in Louisiana, 11.9% are living in poverty. Of the 1.2 million children under age 18 living in Louisiana, 25.4% are living in poverty. These two age groups make up the most vulnerable portion our population. Neither group is totally equipped to go it alone. They are either beyond their productive years or they are not yet mature enough to be self sustaining. The total number of children and elderly living in poverty in Louisiana is over 371,000—just over 8% of the total population. Roughly half of the people living below the poverty line are under 18 or over 65. If they can not turn to us for help, then where can they turn? If not us, then who?

What about the other half that are between the ages of 18 and 65?
Poverty has many faces and many causes. There are the unemployed, there are the disabled, there countless working poor who do not have the skills to command a living wage ( but they are working), and there are those who have been trapped in the cycle of poverty for generations. Welfare reform has forced most of those in the last group from the welfare programs into the work force. Unfortunately the jobs available to not provide living wages. In our society it is not unreasonable to expect all people who are able to work. The question is: what do we do when they honestly work and still can’t make it? From our perspective, hunger in our state is simply not acceptable. We hope that you agree.