Therese Marrs has learned the art of stretching a link of smoked sausage, a jar of cheese and box of macaroni into three meals every week.
The 56-year-old mother struggles to make the meals come together for her husband and 16-year-old daughter each week since she was laid off from her job at a factory in February. She spends almost every day looking for work, but she fears the worst once her unemployment benefits run out in a few months.
"I've learned how to cut my meals. My food stamps only stretch about three weeks," Marrs says. "I've been working in factories since I was 15, but I can't seem to get anybody to hire me."
Marrs is among the 15.6 million older adults who face the threat of hunger as a result of a lingering weak economy in America, according to a recently released AARP report "Food Insecurity Among Older Adults." The study, conducted by the University of Kentucky and the University of Illinois, showed that from 2007 to 2009, there was a 63% increase in food insecurity among 40- to 49-year-olds and a 37% increase for those ages 50 to 59.
Baby Boomers seem to be at the greatest risk for hunger because many do not receive benefits such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, which is offered to adults with children, or Social Security, which is typically available to those 62 and older, AARP Tennessee spokeswoman Karin Miller says.
"People are losing their jobs, and it particularly hits the older worker harder," Miller said. "There are few government programs set up for them, but our goal is to let them know of the benefits they do have. More people are in need of food, but there are less donations and less assistance. Nobody should go hungry because of that."
Besides the lack of jobs, older adults lack information about benefits that could assist them, says Casey Woodling, Community Food Advocates food stamp outreach coordinator.
"There's the stigma with receiving food stamps, but there's also the barriers of knowing how the program works, mobility and technology," Woodling says. "I get a lot of calls from people in that age group, and they're struggling to get food on the table and paying for health care."
Food stamps are a slight safety net for older adults in the economic downturn, but those benefits will decrease by 2013, Woodling says.
For Marrs and her family, the tide may be turning. Her husband, James, recently landed a job. Daughter Glorie has managed to make A's and B's in school in spite of the family's hardship.
"I used to clean houses for a living," Therese Marrs says. "I'll go back to that if I am able to, but maybe something else will come up."
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