Used to be in Southern Louisiana, nobody ever had to worry about hunger or a lack of protein, just go catch something out of the water. But as this AP article points out, those days have been suspended and for families, at the worst time of the year – their children are home from school. During the summer, everybody eats at home, there are no reduced price lunches.

James Demolle grumbles, “I ain’t used to no handouts.”

But handouts are what his family have come to depend on. Assistance provided by Second Harvest, a government funded food bank, is in increasing demand. They supply the basics, bread, hot dogs, hamburgers, peanut butter and jelly, but this is tough to take for thousands of families accustomed to eating what they catch: shrimp, crab, redfish and oysters. It’s just another example of their routine, their culture that has been taken away from them by the BP Catstraphuk.

And whereas BP initially helped out, that was some time ago…

Colleen Bosley, of Catholic Charities, says BP PLC provided $750,000 for one month of services after the oil rig exploded and the company’s well started gushing. But that money has long since run out, and she’s still awaiting word on a second request.

“We’re going to be out there whether BP funds us or not,” she says, “but the volume we’re able to provide is far less.”

Second Harvest says 17 percent of the households in the affected parishes were below the poverty level before the spill.

Since May 3, nearly 2,000 people in five affected parishes have applied at mobile sites for assistance averaging $323 a month, says Trey Williams, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. Enrollment in SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, jumped 14 percent in St. Bernard Parish between the end of April and the end of June, while Jefferson, Terrebone and Lafourche also saw bumps higher than the statewide increase of 2 percent.

Livelihoods and culture…equally important, equally being robbed…sure, the well may be capped, but two million gallons of Corexit and hundreds of thousands barrels of oil are in the Gulf of Mexico…

This is far from over.

Read the article:

Fishing families turn to fast food, ‘grind meats’

Have a nice day