Do you celebrate this day during the holidays?

Boxing Day, traditionally celebrated on December 26th, has nothing to do  with
the sport of boxing or returning boxes of unwanted Christmas presents.

The major historical theme of Boxing Day tradition has to do with gifts of money
to the poor or those in a service position. It is a national  secular holiday in England,
Wales, Ireland and Canada since 1871 that spread mainly in countries that are
historically connected to the UK and in many European countries.

There are competing  and obscure theories  regarding this European tradition, which started in the UK, during the Middle Ages.

The following are some theories of how December 26th relates to ‘poor boxes’ , St.
Stephen and Boxing Day.

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Who is Stephen who cared about widows?
While there are several different saints named Stephen, the first St. Stephen, a   foreign-born Jew, who had become a very early follower of Jesus, appears in The Acts of the Apostles. He complained that the care of the elderly widows was neglected. The problem  arose from the  failure of the church to minister to a particular segment of its congregation. The neglect of these   widows was apparently not deliberate but merely an oversight as it seems to have been unintentional. He was one of seven men named to help ensure that the distribution of alms to widows in the early Christian church is done fairly.

Stephen went “among the people” boldly speaking God’s message of a crucified Jesus Christ to a hostile Jewish audience and performing great miracles confirming his message. Stephen was stoned to death because he  fearlessly stood up and spoke out.  As he died, Stephen begged God not to punish his killers.  Acts 6:8-8:1 .

St. Stephen’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Stephen, on December 26th, is a Christian saint’s day to this first Christian martyr or protomartyr.

Read more about Saint Stephen and the widows: here 
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“Good King Wenceslas”…you have heard the song….so what did he do?

While surveying his land  Saint Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia in the early 10th
century, saw a poor man gathering wood in the middle of a snowstorm. He
gathered up surplus food and wine and carried them in a box through the
blizzard to the peasant’s door. In the fifth verse of the song  “Good King
Wenceslas”,  it says: Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find
blessing.   His martyrdom gave rise to a reputation for heroic goodness that
resulted in his elevation to sainthood as the patron saint of the Czech state.

He was posthumously declared to be a king and is the subject of the well-known
“Good King Wenceslas” carol for Saint Stephen’s Day.
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Servants holiday was not celebrated on Christmas….
Servants were required to work in the great houses for the Christmas Day
celebrations,  which were enormous feasts. As they prepared to leave
each was presented with a box containing gifts, bonuses and leftover food
to enjoy the next day with their own family when they were given the day
off celebrate.  It is no coincidence that Boxing Day and The Feast of
St. Stephen falls on December 26 .
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Alm boxes at church were for the poor…..

The locked alms boxes in churches where parishioners deposited coins for
the  needy, were traditionally opened on St. Stephen’s day and the contents
of the boxes were distributed to the poor.

Then the idea of giving expanded to service people….

These boxes are thought to have  inspired the tradition of giving a present,
usually  monetary, the first weekday after Christmas in gratitude, to those
who provided good service  during the previous year.  The giving of the money
was associated with alms boxes thus, the gifts themselves came to be known
as ‘boxes’.  Samuel Pepys mentions this practice in his diary entry from December,
19th 1663.

But look  what happened…..
Tradesmen and working people, now feeling ‘entitled’ to gifts, began to go around
with boxes of their own around, collecting tips for the service  they had given during
the past year.

Their greedy ‘entitlement attitude’ become a nuisance, as Pepys complained five years later, in an entry dated December 28,  1668: “Called up by drums & trumpets; these things & boxes having cost me much money this Christmas.” Almost fifty years later, Jonathan Swift lamented,“By the Lord Harry, I shall be undone here with Christmas boxes.  The rogues of the coffee-house have raised their tax, every one giving a crown, and I gave mine for shame, besides a great many half-crowns to great men’s porters”.

Today monetary gifts, called ‘tips’, are given to service people at the time the service is provided.

Sharing Food, Building Community

Dressed neatly in old, but clean clothes well-groomed elderly women from a subsidized Senior apartment complex, visited the  food pantry for the first time. One lady said through tears that the food was such a blessing.

A few weeks later, upon hearing from a resident how much the food was appreciated, a pantry volunteer offered to  deliver a box of food to the complex, for those physically unable to come  to the pantry. The resident didn’t want that, explaining that until recently people had always stayed to themselves; not showing up for planned events  or meetings. Now, when a resident visits the pantry  upon their return they knock on the doors of neighbors they hadn’t known before, sharing  the food  they so desperately need themselves. Food  “opens the door” to building community, by allowing people to  connect with others. 

~

And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from
house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Acts 2:46 KJV

Elder Hunger in Oklahoma, Yet Many Cannot Qualify for SNAP (Food Stamps)!

THERE ARE ELDERLY PEOPLE, ON SOCIAL SECURITY, WHO ARE HUNGRY RIGHT HERE IN OUR STATE, YET THEY CANNOT QUALIFY FOR SNAP (FOOD STAMPS) OR GET TO A FOOD PANTRY TO GET FOOD.

• While more than 50% of  households  receiving food through Feeding America* are also receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits  (a.k.a. food stamps) a hungry Senior receiving  the average  Social Security benefit does not qualify for  SNAP
  
• Nearly one in three meal programs targets children, while only one in more than ten meal programs target seniors.  
• 79% of households report purchasing inexpensive, unhealthy food.

ON A VERY LIMITED INCOME A SENIOR STRUGGLING TO MAKE ENDS MEET MUST FIGURE OUT HOW HE/SHE IS GOING TO EAT WHEN THERE IS NO MONEY FOR FOOD AT THE END OF THE MONTH

I did not realize that:

• There is no minimum Social Security benefit,
• For one in three Seniors in Oklahoma Social Security is their total income. 
• At the death of a spouse, one Social Security benefit goes away.

I am stunned that:

• 12% of those 65 and older are living at the poverty level.
  
• Among the most pronounced increases, for food insecurity, are the widowed.
  
• Out of those seniors who face the threat of hunger, the majority (63%) are white and actually have incomes above the poverty line.
  
• In Oklahoma City  alone, 1/3 of Seniors are hungry on a daily basis. I have no doubt that it is higher in small towns where they don’t drive or are using a walker and have no one to bring them anything.
  

BECAUSE FEWER PROGRAMS ARE AVAILABLE FOR SENIORS
More than half of all seniors report having to make tradeoffs, many times choosing between eating or paying for prescriptions, transportation to the doctor, rent or utilities (heat and water), etc.  Many go hungry.These tradeoffs  mean that our older population is suffering as many Oklahoma seniors skip meals  and don’t receive the proper nutrition critical to their  health.

CONSEQUENCES OF FOOD INSECURITY

• A recent study found that food insecure seniors had significantly lower intakes of vital nutrients in their diets.  Inadequate nutrition can have long-term consequences, which include a high rate of heart attack, asthma, high blood pressure,  diabetes,  depression and congestive heart failure.
  
• These health conditions can create additional financial strains.  Many report having medical debt even with insurance,  due to deductibles and uncovered services.
  
•  17% of the clients served by Feeding America are age 60 and over include: inability to get to a food pantry due to poor health, limited mobility, lack of transportation, living in a “food desert” (too far from a food pantry) and even shame.

Many factors, not just poverty, contribute to hunger, such as dental problems, which make it extremely uncomfortable to eat.  (Medicare, in Oklahoma, does NOT cover dental.)

LETS PUT OURSELVES IN THEIR SHOES
Imagine for a moment that your total Social Security benefit for the month was  $1000*. How much of that $1,000 Social Security would you have left after first paying  your rent, and then moving on to  utilities, prescriptions, medical co-pays and uncovered services, and then basics such as toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.) How much did you have left to buy food for the month? (Not many of us would be willing to do this for a month,as an experiment, yet working with Seniors I see this every day.)

WHAT MANY SENIORS DO NOT REALIZE

SNAP defines an individual 60 years of age or older as elderly. This is important because while the amount of monthly food assistance depends on the household’s size,income and resources, special household, income and resource rules apply to households of elderly recipients.(A special income rule is that elderly households only need to be below a maximum net income to be eligible for food assistance, instead of a gross income maximum.)

AS I SEE IT

• Enough healthy food for adequate nutrition is important,  to  reduce the rates of obesity,  diabetes and other chronic diseases and the accompanying skyrocketing healthcare costs.
• The  health of low-income elderly persons,  60 years of age and older, can be improved by supplementing their diets with nutritious foods.
• Individuals, charities, businesses and government all have a role in ending Senior hunger. Each of us can all do something! Working together, we can solve hunger in Oklahoma.
  

We need to educate the elderly and their caregivers on how and where they can get help, and if they cannot get there, we need to get it to them.

Sadly, Senior Servings appears to be mostly just in the metro areas. Rural areas desperately need this and maybe we need to get the word out about the direness of the situation. People are inherently good and want to help when they see a need. )It is most important though when asking people to give to food banks that it be designated for Senior Servings and used only for that.)

An example of what is needed: someone to deliver food right to to the Senior low income apartments and Senior Centers in RURAL areas, such as Cushing.   (Cushing, though closer to Tulsa is served by the Regional Food bank, not the Eastern Oklahoma Food Bank http://okfoodbank.org/what-we-do/senior-servings  and Cushing seems to fall through the cracks.)  Here is what the Regional Food Bank, that Cushing falls under, shows: http://www.aarp.org/giving-back/info-07-2012/aarp-works-with-food-banks-ok1907.html

It is so important  that elderly people have enough nutritious food to eat.

We can do more….much more by educating people who have extras from their garden. A nice tomato or a cantaloupe can go a long way in helping someone who is hungry.

(*Although the average Social Security check is a bit higher  Many are less. Remember: there is no minimum Social Security benefit.)

 

 

¹⁹ When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. Deuteronomy 24:19 (NIV)

Starving Widows in Oklahoma (Senior Hunger/Elder Hunger)

AMERICA HAS FOUR MILLION SENIORS WHO ARE MALNOURISHED.
Between 2007 and 2012, there was a 49% increase of seniors experiencing the threat of hunger. Nearly four million seniors are now malnourished  in the United States?

HOW CAN OKLAHOMA RANK AS ONE OF THE TEN STATES IN  THE NATION FOR SENIOR HUNGER?
One in three Oklahomans rely on Social Security for their total income, yet there is  no minimum Social Security benefit amount. That means that some recipients could actually receive as little as $1 a month.

The widowed are the fastest growing demographic in the United States.  40% of women in Oklahoma over the age of 65 are widowed.

At the death of a spouse one Social Security benefit goes away. Among the most pronounced increases for food insecurity were the widowed and the near poor. The majority are white and have incomes above the poverty line.  The number of senior women living in extreme poverty jumped by 18 percent from 2011 to 2012. However, a hungry widowed  person receiving the average Social Security benefit does not qualify for food assistance from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), even though they may not have enough to eat. They are left alone to figure out how they can eat and still get by.

If these older folks can’t get SNAP, why don’t they just go to the food bank a couple of times a month?
While many older folks are ashamed and embarrassed by their situation (and raised to not take what they perceive as handouts)  there are many factors, not just poverty that contributes to hunger.

Life circumstances that prohibit or inhibit an individual’s ability to obtain healthy food include:  limited mobility, lack of access/transportation, living in a “food desert” where grocery stores are located far and few between,  a poor health condition, isolation (both social and emotional),  poverty or even dental problems that make it uncomfortable to eat. (MEDICARE DOES NOT PAY FOR DENTAL CARE.)

Many Oklahoma seniors skip meals in order to purchase the medication that needs to be taken with food, to assure effectiveness. There are those who resort to using credit cards with high interest  or payday loans  with  Annual Percent Rates of 391% or higher. Oklahoma is No. 1 in Payday Loan Usage – NPR State Impact  (Some credit card companies  add a late fee of $35 and the APR may be increased to the variable penalty of 29.99% when they don’t receive the minimum payment by the due date!)

Hunger affects health as health is heavily  determined by what we eat. The health  of our older population is suffering.  Enough food and adequate nutrition is important,  in order to  reduce the rates of obesity,  diabetes and other chronic diseases and the accompanying skyrocketing health care costs.