Budgets stretched thin for working poor - Gainesville Times

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Budgets stretched thin for working poor

Costs of poverty extend to nonprofits, government agencies

Barbara Kadamus helps sort packages of food and supplies as a volunteer at the Georgia Mountain Food Bank. The food bank is a critical resource to help the more than 15,000 people in Hall County who have difficulty feeding themselves and their families. - photo by Nick Bowman

10182017 MONEY 1.jpg — Barbara Kadamus helps sort packages of food and supplies as a volunteer at the Georgia Mountain Food Bank. The food bank is a critical resource to help the more than 15,000 people in Hall County who have difficulty feeding themselves and their families. - photo by Nick Bowman

Keeping a roof over your head can be a difficult task in Hall County. Average local rent cuts the monthly income of a poor family of three in half; $1,701 a month doesn’t go far when you have a check for $850 to cut in the first five days of the month and two other mouths to feed.