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This week the USDA released its 2009 Household Food Security statistics. According to the report, 14.7 percent of American households were considered food insecure at least some of the time in 2009 and 5.7 percent were found food insecure often. These numbers are unchanged when compared to last year which showed the highest percentage ever since the report was first released in 1995.
Billy Shore, executive director of Share Our Strength, a nonprofit devoted to ending childhood hunger had this to say:
The new food insecurity figures portray a dire situation in which a record level of children in America, more than 17 million, struggle with hunger. These children need access to nutritious food if they are going to develop to their full potential. In this case, the most effective action Congress can take is to quickly reauthorize child nutrition programs.
On August 5, the School Nutrition Act Reauthorization, also called Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, was passed by the Senate. And now Congress must pass the bill. The bill provides the first non-inflationary increase to school lunch spending since 1973, allocating $4.5 billion for school lunches, an increase of about 6 cents per child. And the bill has already been paid for through monies restructured from the food stamp program. It also enables more kids to be eligible for free school lunches and expands to areas with more low income kids. Read about the bill.
Since the downturn began, about 1.5 million more students now receive free and reduced-price lunches so this bill makes a huge difference in the lives of so many kids expected to learn on an empty stomach.
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