Janet Scardino, Comic Relief USA and Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Feeding America, posted on
Over the last several weeks, we all heard heart-wrenching stories of the government shutdown’s impact on the 800,000 furloughed federal workers and more than a million federal contract workers. Missing two paychecks or not getting paid at all also affected their families and children. At Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, and Comic Relief USA, the non-profit behind the Red Nose Day campaign to end child poverty, the stories of people being forced to choose between covering their mortgage or feeding their family have been all too familiar.
These stories bear all the hallmarks of “episodic poverty,” where hard-working Americans, who may have never before experienced a major financial shortfall, suddenly find themselves unable to make ends meet for reasons outside of their control. Read more
