Study: 1 in 8 get help at food banks, By Wendy Koch, February 1, 2010, USA Today: “One in eight Americans – 37 million – received emergency food help last year, up 46% from 2005, the nation’s largest hunger-relief group reports today. Children are hit particularly hard, according to the report by Feeding America, a network of 203 food banks nationwide. One in five children, 14 million, received food from soup kitchens, food pantries and other agencies, up from 9 million in 2005, the year of the group’s last major survey…”
Workers hungry, too, study finds, By Anne Krueger, February 3, 2010, San Diego Union-Tribune: “It’s not just the jobless who are going hungry. Nearly two-thirds of the families who sought assistance from food banks last year included at least one adult who was working, according to a new study of hunger in San Diego County released yesterday. That amount compared with 36 percent nationally in the study conducted by Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. More working families need help with food in San Diego County because the area has one of the highest living costs in the nation, said Gary J. McDonald, president and chief executive officer of Feeding America San Diego…”
Study finds use of food pantries soaring in Mass., By David Abel, February 3, 2010, Boston Globe: “Nearly 1 in 10 state residents relied on a food pantry, soup kitchen, or shelter last year, a 23 percent increase over 2006, according to a new survey of food banks in Massachusetts. Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks nationwide, estimated that more than 571,000 state residents relied on food assistance last year. The state’s food banks distributed 44.7 million pounds of food last year, a 30 percent increase from 2006, reflecting a spike in demand as unemployment and poverty have surged during the recession…”
Study: 650K Ind. residents received emergency food, By Carly Everson (AP), February 2, 2010, Chicago Tribune: “Nearly 650,000 Indiana residents — almost half of them children or seniors — received emergency food from local food banks last year as the recession lingered, according to a statewide study released Tuesday. The study, conducted by the groups Feeding Indiana’s Hungry and Feeding America, found that 37 percent of the households served have at least one employed adult, said Emily Weikert Bryant, a spokeswoman for Feeding Indiana’s Hungry. Twenty-five percent of adults in the households Feeding Indiana’s Hungry serves are working at least part-time, she said…”
Report shows surge in visits to food pantries, By Rex W. Huppke, February 2, 2010, Chicago Tribune: “Eddie Johnson lost his state job in 2008, then lost his rental apartment and soon became one of the new regulars picking up monthly food supplies at the Lakeview Pantry. The North Broadway storefront fills up each Monday afternoon with crowds now bigger than volunteers have ever seen. This week, more than 40 people filled the waiting area, taking numbers for their turn to collect everything from bulk boxes of rice to fresh produce. A core population of people who have long lived in poverty is now being joined by Chicagoans like Johnson, recession victims driving food pantry demand to new highs…”
Families struggle to afford food, survey finds, By Jason DeParle, January 26, 2010, New York Times: “Nearly one in five Americans said they lacked the money to buy the food they needed at some point in the last year, according to a survey co-sponsored by the Gallup organization and released Tuesday by an anti-hunger group. The numbers soared at the start of the recession, but dipped in 2009 despite the continuing rise in unemployment. The anti-hunger group, the Food Research and Action Center, attributed that trend to falling food prices, an increasing use of food stamps and a rise in the amount of the food stamps benefit. More than 38 million Americans – one in eight – now receive food stamps, a record high…”
Phila.-area district 2d-hungriest in U.S., study says, By Alfred Lubrano, January 26, 2010, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District – which includes Chester, South Philadelphia, and parts of North Philadelphia – is among the hungriest in the nation, according to a report released yesterday. The district, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, is second only to the 16th District in the Bronx, N.Y., for so-called ‘food hardship,’ as measured by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), a national nonprofit in Washington whose aim is to eradicate hunger. FRAC defines food hardship as the lack of money to buy enough food to satisfy a family’s needs. Using data from a survey of more than 500,000 Americans between January 2008 and December 2009, FRAC learned that more than 36 percent of households in the First District answered ‘yes’ to the question, ‘Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?’…”
Many need more cash for food, report says, By Rita Price, January 27, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “One of every five households in the Columbus metro area fell short of money to buy needed food at some point in the past year, according to a report based on daily Gallup surveys. The results, released yesterday by the Food Research and Action Center, put Columbus at No. 24 — worse than Cleveland and Cincinnati — in a ‘food hardship’ ranking of the nation’s 100 largest metro areas. Local anti-hunger groups say the numbers might not be as surprising as they seem. ‘Our food-pantry statistics track that,’ said Evelyn Behm, senior vice president at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. ‘It goes along with the record increases we’ve seen in the past two years.’ Others say Columbus-area respondents might rank worse because they’re newer to such a struggle and trying to get by on their own before turning to emergency help…”
R.I. emergency food programs see a one-year 30-percent surge, By Paul Davis, November 23, 2009, Providence Journal: “Two years ago, Robin McDuffie and her family often spent $150 a night for five meals at a favorite Spanish restaurant. On the menu? Lobster, filet mignon and arroz con pollo. Then her husband lost his mortgage-company job. Now, McDuffie spends a little more for a week’s worth of groceries — with money from the state. ‘We went from making a hundred grand to making four grand,’ says McDuffie, who attends a class on how to prepare healthful meals with less money. She no longer eats meat. ‘I never thought I’d have to do this,’ says the 38-year-old mother of three. In Rhode Island, where the unemployment rate is among the worst in the nation, the number of people who go to bed hungry is at a 10-year high, according to a new report from the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. ‘Poverty and hunger are facts of life for too many Rhode Islanders,’ says the report, to be released Monday…”
Suburban food pantries struggle with record demand, By Ernst Lamothe Jr., November 23, 2009, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: “Mary Ellen McDowell has gotten accustomed to seeing crowds of people arrive during the holidays at Webster Community Chest, a food cupboard for area residents in need. However, this year is unlike any she’s experienced in the past decade, with a record number coming in for help. The worst recession since the Great Depression forced local suburban food cupboards to become more resourceful to provide the same services. Those who run the food cupboards say the problem isn’t going away and they are leaning on the public and themselves like never before…”
Miss. charities struggle amid need, By Gary Pettus, November 22, 2009, Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “For the first time in its history, the Mississippi Food Network won’t be able to buy turkeys and distribute them to thousands of needy Mississippians at Thanksgiving. ‘We aren’t able to provide the turkeys and hams and some of the special foods we usually have,’ said Walker Satterwhite, executive director of the 25-year-old food bank, which supplies more than 300 churches and nonprofits in the state. The reason: a malnourished economy has caused turkey costs to soar and charitable donations to sink…”
