Poverty appeals to Christians

In the past 2 days I've seen the same appeal for money from organizations that should know better--the Salvation Army and a local Catholic congregation. It reads something like this, "Inflation is forcing Columbus families to turn to food pantries . . ." and you know the rest. . . please give what you can for our annual appeal.

Poverty in the USA is at its lowest level in my lifetime. In 2025, approximately 10.2 percent of the population was living below the national poverty line in the United States. This reflected a 0.5 percentage point decrease from the previous year. Most recently, poverty levels in the country peaked during the Obama years in 2010 at just over 15 percent. Inflation following the Biden administration has been cut in half. Median household income (2025): $87,460, up 2.6% from 2024 — the highest on record. Removing illegals has also lowered the cost of housing. Let's have a gratitude, God is good, collection!

Except for gasoline, inflation and prices are at an all-time low. Gasoline remains expensive because the greenies wanted it high so people would turn to "alternative and sustainable fuel," and wouldn't let refineries be built. The wars--which always seem to be with us--Russia and Ukraine, the Middle-east, proxies for Iran, Africa, etc. need more than one side to agree. Every plan Trump came up with worked, but the Demedia raged and lied.

Feeding the poor (giving alms) is actually a command, not a suggestion, from Jesus. If your pension or investment plan have been good to you, then share your blessings--don't lie about it!

Food pantries used to be the domain of the churches with special appeals at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I recall in 1968 attending neighborhood meetings that were urging we all work together and create large food storage areas (food banks) that all the pantries could use and large campaigns like "feeding America" were organized. It was going to solve the food shortage. It was compassion--and lucrative for some. They became massive non-profits with highly paid staff and CEOs. Someone (surprise!) learned to make a generous living helping the poor and taught the poor how to manipulate the system. They learned to make do on 27 days on their food stamps and use the pantry for the short days. The government changed the word "hunger" to "food insecurity" 20 years ago which meant access was not what you want for the fullest life.

Even during the Clinton administration decades ago, it was shown that to avoid poverty 3 things are required.

1) Finish high school,
2) be over 21 and married before having children, and
3) have a full time job.

So, from FDR's food surplus program during the Depression to the most recent $70,000 appeal my church had because some people in the media terrorized local leaders about tariffs and stopping fraud in government grants (which cut off some poverty funding) we've had about a century to "feed America."

In the worst days of Jim Crow, Blacks had a higher marriage rate and lower unemployment than whites. And now the poorest cities have the lowest marriage rates, and surprise, most have Democrats in charge of the wallet,

https://www.statista.com/statistics/200463/us-poverty-rate-since-1990/