 HUNGER AND
POVERTY
Too
many people in the US cannot always afford the healthy
food they need. In California, it's estimated
that 10% of people have to skip or shrink meals to get
by, including 3% who so lack food that they experience
the physical pains of hunger. Hunger can be hard to
see in the US. It's the mom feeding her kids oatmeal
for dinner every night at the end of the month.
It's the senior making the can of soup with twice as
much water to make it last longer. And it's the kids
standing in pantry lines with their parents eagerly
inspecting the bags of groceries they receive.
How can hunger exist in the US when food is so
plentiful? Hunger in the US is primarily a
problem of money, not of food. When families are
squeezed by low incomes on one side, and by high
housing and costs of living on the other, the first
thing they often cut back on is food. In this way,
hunger is the "early warning signal" of poverty.
Hunger in the US harms all of us. People who
can't afford food in the US rarely face starvation,
thanks to emergency food programs, food stamps, and
school meals, among other responses. But shortages of
food do hurt adults' ability to work, children's
ability to learn, and seniors' ability to stay
healthy. A lack of money for food can also lead to
obesity and related health problems like diabetes,
according to new research from Adam Drenowski at the
University of Washington. Low-income people stretch
their limited food dollars by purchasing cheap,
high-calorie food, rather than healthier, more
expensive groceries. Hunger and obesity can be
symptoms of the same problem: a lack of consistent
access to adequate, healthy food.
LOCAL
Many
food banks have done Hunger Studies showing the faces
and facts of hunger in their communities:
Alameda
http://www.accfb.org/about_hunger.html
Fresno
http://communityfoodbank.net/whoCFB.htm
Monterey
http://www.food4hungry.org/news.htm#5
Los
Angeles
http://www.lafoodbank.org/learnhunger.html
and
http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/publication.asp?pubID=72
San
Francisco
http://www.sffoodbank.org/hunger_study.html
Santa
Clara & San Mateo
http://www.secondharvestsjca.org/e_reference/hunger_02.html
Santa
Cruz & San Benito
http://www.thefoodbank.org/hunger1.html
Sonoma
http://www.refb.org
STATE
The
best state data is from UCLA's bi-annual California
Health Interview
Survey:
http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/publication.asp?pubID=143
NATIONAL
National numbers can be found at:
USDA
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr35/
America's Second Harvest
http://www.secondharvest.org/site_content.asp?s=2
FRAC
http://www.frac.org/html/hunger_in_the_us/hunger_index.html
A report on the major national anti-hunger programs is available from:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: "Food and Nutrition Programs: Reducing Hunger and Bolstering Nutrition"
http://www.cbpp.org/7-19-05fa.htm
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