Elderly People Living In Poverty in Southeast Louisiana

Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

Lack of Infrastructure Leads to Poverty in Fluker, LA 

A couple of years ago,  I decided to drive down some of the back roads in Tangipahoa & St. Helena Parishes to talk with and interview some of the elderly people who live off the beaten path. They are the ones who lives in deep rural areas without enough heat, air conditioning in the summer, and sometime not enough food to eat. They are living on a fixed income from month to month. Each month a large percentage of their check is used to purchase  their medication.

Tears swells in my eyes when I look into their eyes and see all the hurt and despair that has left a lingering affect and has aged most of them by at least ten years. Their retirement checks or social security benefit is not enough for them to live on. They scrape all their pennies and nickels together to pay for basic living necessities. Every-day the number of elderly people living in poverty increases. The number are growing steadily since 2005 according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

For the last decade the number of elderly who experience hunger increased 80%, according to a report from the Meals on Wheels Research Foundation. In 2010, more than one in seven skipped meals due the lack of money to purchase food. Some of them eat at senior citizen programs that is provided by the state. Many of them are  to embassassed to tell someone that don't have enough food to eat. They are afraid that they would end up in some nursing home somewhere.

According to Zip Atlas, zip code number 70436 which is Fluker, Louisiana, the poverty level is 95.01% and is ranking at number 67 on a national level. The Town of Tangipahoa which is just about three miles from Fluker, Louisiana- and has a population of 533 people, the poverty level is 82.71% and ranks number 144 on the national level of poverty.

The lack of adequate infrastructure perpetuates poverty. The entire community is at risk. You will not find public transportation, schools, community centers, health clinics, supermarkets and jobs that is necessary for a community to progress. It is merely impossible to reduce poverty without the essential services. It has been proven through research that a number of related social problems can be found in the community because of the lack of infrastructure.