Who’s Helping

An assessment of how the food safety net, long designed to protect the state’s most vulnerable from extreme hunger, is under unprecedented stress. Stories consider California’s food stamp and food bank networks.

Fraying Safety Net Raises Risk Of Hunger In California
by Emilie Mutert and Ashley Ragovin
As record numbers of Californians struggle to put food on the table, programs designed to help the hungry are under stress. A four-month examination by reporters from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism shows that food banks and food stamps, two key safety net programs for poor people in California, are sagging under soaring demand and long-ignored problems that impair their effectiveness.

Struggling Food Banks: A Slideshow
by Ashley Ragovin
Food banks are an integral component of the safety net system. The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and its network of agencies struggle daily to acquire and provide resources to California’s food insecure—a population that continues to grow at an alarming rate.

Surviving The Food Stamp Challenge
by Katie Evarts
Evarts took the food stamp challenge for one week to see how effective the program is at keeping participants fed and healthy. She found one of the biggest challenges to be shopping for a week’s worth of groceries with only $36.50 to spend. During the week, she also recorded what she ate and how she was feeling.

Reporter’s Food Stamp Diary
by Katie Evarts
Reporter Katie Evarts participated in a Food Stamp Challenge, trying to see what it is like to live on food stamps in California for one week. She had about $5 per day to spend, and decided to use it to buy all of her food at once. During the week, she kept a diary of what she ate, how she felt, and what lessons she learned about life on food stamps.

Diary of a Food Stamp Recipient
by Elizabeth Echenique, as told to Katie Evarts
Elizabeth Echenique has used food stamps for years. She kept a diary for one week to show how she rations food for her family, and to share what she’s experienced and learned.

Pinching Pennies to Eat: A Slideshow
by Katie Evarts
Follow our reporter Katie Evarts as she goes to the store to spend $36.50 per week – equivalent to a food stamp allotment – and chronicles her journey through the week.