Soup Kitchens in Shantytowns: Providing Food for the Poor

Little towns consisting of shacks. Most were makeshift shacks made out of scrap materials, built by the unemployed.

Offered free or low-cost food to the poor, due to most people being unable to provide food for themselves.

Lines of people waiting to receive food, which was produced by charity organizations, or public agencies.

Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado were among the states affected. These regions were hit the hardest by droughts and dust storms.

Cash payments or food that was provided by the government to the poor.

Farmers: lost land, grew their own food, turned to tenant farming City Dwellers: lost jobs, ended up in the streets, built shantytowns, took food from soup kitchens Both: lost their jobs and homes

What happened to the men during the Great Depression was different compared to what happened to women and children was. That men became depressed over the changes in their status, and their inability to provide fro their families. Most men traveled the country looking for work. Women were forced to take a more active role in the survival of their families, by working outside the home. Children stopped going to school, and went to work. Most children suffered from malnutrition and diet-related diseases.

The Dust Bowl conditions in the Great Plains affected the entire country because. Eastern cities were covered with dirt that was blown from the plains. Thousands of farm families migrated to California, where unemployment was rising.

The Great Depression affected people's outlook by people wanting to save their money rather than spend it, or invest. People started to put their money away into their "life savings" and not depend on the stock market with their money. Also distrust spread fast, people no longer trusted banks with their money.

During the Great Depression, you would most likely find shantytowns on the outskirts of cities.

During the Great Depression, soup kitchens provide free or low cost food to those who were unemployed and couldn't provide food (for their families).

During the Great Depression, bread lines were lines of people waiting to receive food provided by charitable organizations.

During the 1930's, the region that became known as the Dust Bowl was The Great Plain.

At the beginning of the Great Depression, the main sources of direct relief were city governments and private charities.

Some of the physical and emotional health problems that were caused by the Great Depression were that there was a increase in malnutrition, starvation, and a variety of diseases associated with poor diets. People who lost homes took to living in shantytowns or on the streets and rails. The hardship and suffering experienced during the Depression led to broken families, increased rates of suicide, mental illness and general feelings of hopelessness.