Hunger in America | ||
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that in 2005:
35.1 million people lived in households considered to be food insecure.
Of those 35.1 million, 22.7 million are adults (10.4 percent of all adults) and 12.4 million are children (16.9 percent of all children). | ||
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First and foremost, hungry people need good food. Although emergency food organizations vary greatly in their size, organization management, and clientele, all share a common goal - to provide safe, nutritious food to those who might otherwise go without. The more than 150,000 emergency feeding programs that operate in the United States face many challenges in meeting this goal. Some of these challenges include staff and volunteers with little or no training in nutrition and safe food; reliance on salvaged or donated foods, which may be damaged, thus greatly increasing the risk of possibly hazardous food reaching the consumer; an uncertain food supply that makes providing an appropriate variety of foods difficult; and diversity of clientele that make some food inappropriate or unacceptable. Using the educational materials provided by Indiana’s Food for the Hungry, more emergency food organizations are prepared to offer safe food for their clients.
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