I grew up poor in a small Ozark Mountains town in Missouri. We didn’t know we were poor because we had a roof over our heads, food to eat and books to read. My mother was a teacher who made less money than her male counterparts because “they had families to support.” In spite of having little to spare, when a child in her classroom didn’t have enough money to buy hot lunch, she dug in the bottom of her purse to find enough change to feed that child. I can remember numerous times she came home and asked me if I had any old shoes that she could provide to a child without. And I remember her pulling out her sewing machine and making a skirt for another student.
Teachers today are no different. Many have an emergency snack bag for kids who are hungry. Our teachers are one of the poorest-paid professions yet they are taking care of our children. I lived in Bellingham in Washington state for a while. I volunteered to work during a homeless day fair of sorts. It provided necessary information and resources for people who needed them. I was shocked to see how many homeless children came. I was also shocked to learn what a high percentage of school children were food-insecure.
That was certainly plain when we were locked down during COVID-19. Food banks across America had lines a mile long waiting to get a bag of food for their families. Many organizations stepped up with meals for kids, including our own food bank’s Children’s Lunch Box Program.
The expanded Child Tax Credit, in effect until December, lifted more than three million children out of poverty. There was a bill in the Senate to renew it, but it failed to pass. Part of that bill also provided for early childhood education. It has been proven that kids who have access to early education learn important social skills as well as academic skills so they are on an even par with their peers. Without this intervention, many will never catch up and many will eventually drop out of school.
Is this really what we want in our country? We are the richest country in the world, yet the estimates are that we have 17 million kids who may not have consistent access to food so they can have a normal, healthy life. I get angry when I think of Congress passing a tax break bill for the wealthy but they won’t pass a bill to help our most vulnerable. They talk about family values, yet they won’t help families with the basic necessities they need. Where is Sen. Lisa Murkowski? I’m not sure. I’ve called her numerous times but have yet to get a response. And I don’t even bother with Sen. Dan Sullivan. Everyone knows he won’t do anything for Alaska families.
Next time you hear someone say, “Those socialist Democrats” or that Joe Biden has gone too far left when they’re trying to pass a bill that would help our children live normal healthy lives, realize that this isn’t socialism, this is Americanism. I don’t think anyone would dare have called my mother a socialist when what she did was exactly the same, only on a smaller scale.
— E.T. Durnford
Anchorage
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