Hunger in Our Communities

Across Second Harvest Food Bank's 18-county service area, nearly a quarter of a million people live in poverty and are at risk of hunger, including 81,500 children.

The Hidden Reality
While hunger in our communities may be hidden, its affects are not, especially among our more vulnerable citizens, including children and older adults. Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC's participation in Hunger in America 2006, the largest study of domestic hunger ever conducted, provides an in-depth look at who is hungry in our communities. According to the study, Second Harvest Food Bank serves more than 134,000 different individuals in need each year just through its partner agencies that provide emergency food assistance. More than third are children; many are seniors. (These figures do not include our partner agenices serving disadvantaged and special needs populations through non-emergency programs.)

Children
Children are especially vulnerable to issues of hunger and poverty. Nearly 81,500 children across Northwest NC live in poverty. Research indicates that even mild under-nutrition experienced by young children during critical periods of growth may lead to reductions in physical growth and affect brain development.(1)

A child who is unequipped to learn because of hunger and poverty is more likely to be poor as an adult.  As such, the existence of childhood hunger in the United States threatens future American prosperity.  

Read more about Second Harvest Food Bank's work to address childhood hunger in our communities.

Seniors
For older adults, adequate nutrition is particularly important for health because of their increased vulnerability to disease and conditions that may impair the ability to live at home independently. Inadequate diets may contribute to or exacerbate disease, quicken the advance of age-related degenerative diseases, and delay recovery from illnesses.(2) Nearly 9,500 people -7% served by Second Harvest Food Bank emergency assistance programs are age 65 or older.

Working Poor
The assumption is often made that those who face hunger are unemployed. The truth is that greater and greater numbers of working North Carolinians are struggling to feed their families. The average annual income in households served by Second Harvest Food Bank partner agencies that provide emergency food assistance is $10,560. More than one-third of these households have one or more adults working.

According to one of the most recent studies from the USDA, North Carolina is one of the few states that has an increasing rate of food insecurity – defined as the inability, because of financial constraints, to consistently obtain food of sufficient quantity or quality for an active and healthy life.(3)

Hunger is a significant problem year-round in every community across the United States, from bustling American cities to suburban hamlets to rural small towns.  In 2004 alone, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 38.2 million people lived in food-insecure households, including 13.9 million children. 

Truth be told, the numbers above are an underestimate the extent of the problem. They are based on outdated federal poverty guidelines that distort the true picture of indigence in our nation. Read more.

While hunger is a widespread problem, it is unique in that it is truly a solvable problem.  The resources exist.  The United States is the largest and most efficient food producer in the world. 

Ultimately, ending hunger will take leadership and political will. And it will require that the public and private sector join in a determined partnership to address the economic, political and personal barriers that contribute to hunger.

Read More:
Click here to view the Hunger in America 2006 summary report.
Read The Consequences of Hunger in Children
Read The Consequences of Hunger in Older Adults

1 Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy, The Links Between Nutrition and Cognitive Development of Children, 1998
2 USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Food Insufficiency and the
Nutritional Status of the Elderly Population, May 2000
3 USDA-Economic Research Service, 2005, Household Food Insecurity in the United
States: 2004 (From 1996 to 2002, food insecurity among North Carolinians rose from 9.6% to 12.3%. This means tens of thousands of families have difficulty affording food at some point each year.)