Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 117

CHAPTER 3
because of increases in out-of-pocket medical expenses. When out-of-pocket healthcare costs
are taken into account, producing a more accurate picture of household resources and levels
of hardship, senior poverty rates increase in every state and double in 12 of them: California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.79

Ms. Jeffers
Lucy Jeffers is not one to complain about her ailments, though at 87, she has her share.
Her knees ache when she is on her
feet too long, and a year ago she
had them drained of fluid. But she
doesn’t let the pain prevent her
from attending church on Sundays
or buying food at the supermarket.
She takes advantage of a van service that picks her and other tenants up in front of their apartment
building and drives them to the
store. However, Ms. Jeffers does
not join the shopping trips after
the second week of the month—
because that’s when her monthly
SNAP benefits run out.
Ms. Jeffers is aggravated that
her benefits don’t last through the
month. Bad knees and all, she set
off for the social services office—
a trip that required three bus
changes—and when she got there, she did not hesitate to speak her mind about the difficulty
of feeding herself for a whole month on $35 in food stamp benefits. Ms. Jeffers brought
receipts to show what she was spending her SNAP benefits on. She has high cholesterol and
was told by her doctor to purchase low-fat milk and cheese and other items that cost more.
This makes it more difficult to stretch her SNAP resources. The caseworker told her there
was nothing she could do. Ms. Jeffers didn’t really expect that much would happen as a result
of her trip, but at the end of the month she is always hungry—and that made it worth a try.
Ms. Jeffers lives alone in a government-subsidized apartment building for seniors in Takoma
Park, Maryland, just over the border from Washington, DC. In March 2013, her rent increased
from $192 to $203 per month because of across-the-board government spending cuts that were
mandated by sequestration. (See Amelia Kegan’s article about the impact of sequestration
and Bread for the World’s response on pages 44-45.) The $11 hike in her rent may not sound
like much to many people, but to Ms. Jeffers, who lives on $710 a month in Social Security
benefits, it means deeper cuts to her food budget that make the second half of the month more
uncomfortable. She braces for the day her SNAP benefits run out by cutting back on portions.
By the last week of the month she is eating one meal per day, usually rice with a little butter to
www.bread.org/institute?

Todd Post/Bread for the World

Seniors over 85—like
Ms. Lucy Jeffers
above—are the fastest
growing members of
the senior population
living in poverty.

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