|

Help
Us Share Hope Become A Partner Today"
Hunger in the United States
In 1999, a year marked by good economic news, 31 million Americans were
food insecure, meaning they were either hungry or unsure of where their next
meal would come from. 12 million of these Americans were children. U. S.
Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 1999
In the same year, some 5 million adults and 2.7 million children lived in
households where someone in the household had experienced hunger in the
previous year due to a lack of resources. U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 1999
Seniors make up 16.5% of all emergency food pantry clients, 17% of all
soup kitchen clients, 4% of all emergency shelters clients and 17.5% of the
clients served by other non-congregate feeding programs such as Meals on
Wheels. Seniors, however, only account for 13% of the U.S. population.
According to research conducted by the Urban Institute, 1.9 million
seniors must choose between buying food and buying needed medicine.
Approximately 28% of all emergency food clients have missed meals in the
past month. Additional research has estimated that 1.1 million seniors have
skipped meals because there is no food in the house.
In 1999, approximately 12 million American children were food insecure,
meaning they were hungry or at risk of hunger. U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 1999
Of the more than 21 million emergency food recipients served by America's
Second Harvest network, more than 8 million are children (38%). Second
Harvest's Hunger 1997: Faces & Facts
Requests for emergency food assistance have risen by 18% in American
cities - with more than half of the requests coming from families with
children. U.S. Conference of Mayors, December 1999
8,659,000 children in the U.S. live in working poor families. Center
on Budget and Policy
Donation
Form Help Us Share Hope
|