In its first comprehensive report since 2006, Feeding America shows how the economic downturn is increasing risk of hunger for a growing number of families and creating pressure on relief organizations.
The French have a saying: Jamais deux sans trois—never two (catastrophes) without three. There is certainly no shortage of catastrophes, disasters and ongoing problems in the world today. The latest to capture world attention is the devastation created by the earthquake in Haiti.
And just this month, Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity organization, issued Hunger in America 2010, “the largest study of domestic hunger,” according to their website. The report shows that hunger is increasing at an alarming rate in the United States.
An estimated 5.7 million people nationally receive emergency food assistance each week from a food pantry, soup kitchen, or other agency served by one of Feeding America’s more than 200 food banks, including the Greater Chicago Food Depository. This is a 27 percent increase over numbers reported in Hunger in America 2006, which reported that 4.5 million people were served each week. Among those households receiving help, nearly half have had to choose between buying food and paying utilities, rent or mortgages.
Who receives emergency food assistance is changing too. Thirty-six percent of the households Feeding America serves have at least one person working. The number of clients reporting “some college” as part of their educational background has more than doubled since 2006. The number of people who have completed college has increased by 33 percent. And the number of children the Feeding America network serves has increased by 50 percent.
“We have reached a new normal of much greater need in our community,” said Kate Maehr, executive director of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. “What we’ve learned over the past several years is that we will need to sustain higher levels of demand among men, women, children and the elderly for the foreseeable future. We must continue to respond by delivering high quality food and with programs that address the specific needs of children, older adults and those who are unemployed.”
Compounding the problem is the cyclical nature of giving. Around the holidays—Thanksgiving and Christmas, in particular—there is heightened media awareness of hunger in America. This gets more people donating and volunteering. But hunger is not cyclical, as this report shows. It is a year-round issue affecting more of us every day.
Find out how you can help. Visit Feeding America’s website. There you can find ways to contribute and volunteer in your area. You can also download the full Hunger in America 2010 report. In Chicago, visit the Greater Chicago Food Depository website, where you can see how your donations and volunteering can make a big difference for local families.
This post and these findings are terrible and significant. Thank you for sharing this info.
I have a friend who’s mother is a retired public health nurse. She has a row of half-dead plants on her window sill that I would have chucked long before, yet she’s determined to make them healthy plants again. I really admire that.
I see similarities in your passion for food…it’s not just the food, the prep, the camaraderie but access to food as well. Great blog, Terry!
Glad to do it, Nervous Cook.
Carol—I wasn’t sure where you were headed with the half-dead plants, but thank you for the lovely compliment!