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Posted on Sun, Jun. 01, 2008

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Food and gasoline: Soaring prices hit the poor hardest

LOWER-INCOME FOLKS WERE ALREADY STRETCHED TO THE LIMIT

By Karla Ward

KWARD1@HERALD-LEADER.COM =

Brad Luttrell | Staff

Melissa Keeley tried to figure out what foods = would last=20 the longest for her and her son, Bobby Hissong, at God's Pantry on = Tuesday May=20 27, 2008 at Broadway Christian Church. Keeley said she had to make this = last a=20 week. Photo by Brad Luttrell | Staff

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Rising fuel prices. Rising food prices. Carol Sanders knows all too = well they=20 can take a very human toll.

Sanders, of Lexington, had been living in a three-bedroom apartment = with her=20 three children -- an 11-year-old and 8-year-old twins. But in late = December and=20 early January, she said, making the $500 monthly rent and paying her = other bills=20 too became overwhelming.

Sanders, who is raising the children on her own, became homeless and = sent the=20 kids to live with her sister.

"I didn't want them to go through the struggles that I was about to = go=20 through," she said. "It really took a toll on me and the kids."

When the economy takes a tumble, the poor are often the first to feel = the=20 pain.

Representatives of several local social service agencies said they're = seeing=20 more clients seeking help in an environment in which gas and grocery = prices are=20 soaring.

"The economy is affecting the low- to moderate-income individuals a = great=20 deal more than it is anybody else," said Johnny Cantrell, chief = executive=20 officer of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Central Kentucky. He = also=20 oversees the organization's offices in eight Midwestern states.

Many families, Cantrell said, live on budgets of just $500 or $600 a = month,=20 meaning increases in the cost of food and gas make a big dent. "Anything = is=20 going to wipe that budget out," he said. "And that's what we're = seeing."

The consumer price index for food rose 5 percent last year, the = highest gain=20 in nearly two decades.

And gas prices have risen from $3.20 a gallon a year ago to an = average of=20 $3.95 Thursday, according to the Oil Price Information Service.

"There's no evidence that wages are growing ... in terms of keeping = up with=20 inflation," said James Ziliak, director of the University of Kentucky = Center for=20 Poverty Research.

So higher food and gas prices reduce people's ability to cover other=20 expenses, such as utilities and clothing.

"It has a ripple effect throughout their budget," Ziliak said.

Sanders doesn't have a car, but rising gasoline prices are still = hitting her=20 hard.

She earns $6 an hour working through a temporary employment service. = The temp=20 service provides transportation to and from the job, but the cost of the = ride=20 recently went up to $4 each way, or $8 a day.

That means she's at work more than an hour every day before she even = pays the=20 cost of getting there and back.

After taxes and transportation costs, Sanders said her take-home pay = is about=20 $230 a week.

She is now living in an efficiency apartment and paying $100 a week = in rent.=20 And she's putting aside $100 a week in hopes of saving up enough to = reunite her=20 family by the time school starts this fall.

That leaves her $30 a week for food. And with grocery prices rising=20 drastically, it doesn't go far.

Sanders said she hasn't bought milk in two or three weeks because the = prices=20 have gotten so high.

Melissa Keeley is also trying to make her grocery dollars go farther = when=20 shopping for herself and her son, Bobby Hissong.

She's a cook, but she can't afford to provide the kind of meals at = home that=20 she serves up for the customers who come to the restaurant where she = works.

Last weekend, she said, she made a stew with a bouillon cube and some = vegetables that were about to go bad. She and Bobby ate it for three = days,=20 Keeley said.

"That's how far you've got to stretch it now," the single mother said = as she=20 waited in line at the God's Pantry Food Bank at Broadway Christian = Church=20 Tuesday.

She began taking the bus rather than driving to work to save money on = gas=20 about two months ago.

"You've got to make a decision whether to put it in your gas tank or = your=20 mouth," she said of her $875-a-month income.

Keeley is already attending culinary school in hopes that it will = help her=20 get a better job and earn more money. She said she's also thinking of = getting a=20 second job. The only problem is, she worries about spending so much time = away=20 from Bobby.

"I've got to do something," she said. "My 13-year-old son says, 'I = wish I=20 could get a job and help you.' ... He sees what I'm going through."

Problems caused by food and gas prices can be magnified in rural=20 counties.

"The rural areas are going to suffer more in the current = environment," Ziliak=20 said.

He said people in rural areas have to commute farther to work, which = means=20 they have higher fuel costs, and there is some evidence suggesting that=20 groceries cost more in rural areas as well.

The poverty rate in rural Kentucky was estimated at 22 percent in = 2005, as=20 opposed to 13 percent in urban counties, according the the U.S. = Department of=20 Agriculture's Economic Research Service.

Rick Baker, administrative assistant for operations at the Leslie = Knott=20 Letcher Perry Community Action Council, said the agency has seen an = increase in=20 requests from people struggling to make ends meet.

Many need help paying their electric and natural gas bills. Often, he = said,=20 folks will let those payments slide because they have a more pressing = need:=20 putting food on the table.

Baker, who also sits on the board of Hazard Community and Technical = College,=20 said the school has even lost some students to the downturn.

"They're having to drop out of school and go back to work," he said. = "People=20 don't realize the impact that it's having."

But just finding work also has become harder for some folks.

Patrick Douglas, who had dinner at the Catholic Action Center on a = recent=20 Sunday evening, said he had been doing construction work as a day = laborer five=20 or six days a week.

Now, he said, "you're lucky to get out once or twice a week."

"There's really not a lot of work now," he said. "It's slowed down a=20 lot."

And the safety net is not as strong as it once was.

With grocery prices up, food stamps don't go as far.

Ziliak said many families are using their benefits up after only two=20 weeks.

Normally, he said, food stamps are not adjusted for inflation until = the fall,=20 although there is talk in Washington of making a midyear adjustment to = help=20 people cope with rising grocery prices this summer.

"I try to stretch my food stamps as far as I can," said Sabrina = Phillips, who=20 said she gets $298 a month to help feed her family of three.

The family has switched from Kroger to Save-A-Lot for groceries, = started=20 buying bread at a bakery outlet and begun scouring the Sunday paper for = coupons=20 and sale advertisements. Even so, their food stamps usually are used up = before=20 the end of the month.

On Tuesday, Phillips was in line at God's Pantry.

So was Kym Gray, a single mother caring for three children, including = one=20 with spina bifida.

She got to the food bank early in order to get the best selection, = and when=20 it came her turn, she perused the shelves, choosing carefully.

"I look for things that we're out of at the house," she said. "We = don't have=20 any sugar at the house. We don't have any coffee at the house. We don't = have any=20 oil at the house."

And if they didn't have those items at God's Pantry?

"We'll do without," she said. "That's all we can do."

Gray said she's cut out the little forms of entertainment -- going to = the=20 discount movie theater or to McDonald's -- that she and the kids used to = enjoy.

"A lot of times when we do go, they eat. I don't," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this = report. Reach=20 Karla Ward at (859) 231-3314 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3314.=20