What is
Hunger?
We all think we’ve experienced hunger — our
stomachs growl, we grab a snack to hold us over until our next
meal or just tough it out until dinnertime.
But real hunger is much different. It is an
uneasy or painful feeling that results from unwillingly going
for an extended period of time without adequate food to sustain
health and strength because food is not available to you.
Food, along with clothing and shelter, are the
most basic of human needs, and yet many in our community truly
don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Hunger
is colorblind, and does not discriminate on the basis of age.
For most of us, our image of hunger has come
from seeing pictures of severely malnourished children in Third
World countries — the victims of famine and starvation.
It can be very difficult to accept that there are people in
our own community — perhaps even in our own neighborhood — who
are hungry. It is hard for us to believe because we can't easily
see it. Yet nearly 103,000 of our neighbors in southern Wisconsin
do not have access to the food that is essential to sustain
their health and strength. They are children, the elderly and
disabled, and the working poor in our communities.
The community charities served by Second Harvest
report an increased year-round need for food assistance as
citizens struggle with unemployment and the loss of medical
insurance, a shortage of affordable housing, and high utility
costs.
2006
Hunger in America Study
Second
Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin is one of 156 food
banks that participated in a national Hunger in America
study conducted for America ’s Second Harvest, the nation’s
largest organization of emergency food providers.
Data
based on in-person interviews with clients served by food
assistance programs in 16 southwestern Wisconsin counties
served by Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin
and questionnaires completed by agencies providing food
assistance.
The
results provide a snapshot of hunger in this part of the
state. Three key points emerge:
The
food bank is serving 34% more people than in a 2001 study
.
An estimated 75,000 unique (unduplicated) individuals
received assistance in
2005, up from 56,000 in 2001. The poverty
rate is up 5% during the same time
period.
Of
those served:
•
36% are children under 18 years old; 11% are children 0-5
years of age. • 7% are elderly.
•
6% are homeless.
•
43% of households include at least one employed adult.
•
69% of households have incomes below the official federal
poverty level.
•
67% have at least a high school education.
•
95% are U.S. citizens.
•
Among households with children, 72% are food insecure* and
25% are food
insecure and experiencing hunger.
*Food
insecurity is defined as limited or uncertain availability
of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain
ability to acquire acceptable food in socially acceptable
ways (e.g., purchasing at a grocery store vs. emergency food
assistance from a pantry, scavenging, etc.)
Many
of those seeking help make difficult choices between food
and other necessities:
•
41% have had to choose between paying for food and
paying for utilities or heating fuel.
•
31% have had to choose between paying for food and
paying their rent or mortgage.
•
27 % have had to choose between paying for food and
paying for medicine or medical care.
Volunteers
and faith-based organizations are vital to an effective emergency
food distribution program.
•
69% of food pantries, 63% of kitchens/meal sites and 16% of
shelters
are run by faith-based organizations.
•
92% of food pantries, 82% of kitchens/meal sites and 69% of
shelters
use volunteers.
•
68% of food pantries and 44% of kitchens have no paid staff
at all.
•
The average emergency food provider has been operating for
20 years.
But 56% of food pantries, 77% of kitchens/meal
sites and 53% of shelters
believe they face one or more problem that
threatens their continued
operation, notably budget and food resource
issues.
Among
other findings are:
•
The average household size is 2.5 members. 5% of households
had
more than six members.
•
Among households with children under age 18, 44% are headed
by
a single parent.
•
Approximately 69% of those served are white; 18% are African
American;
8% are Hispanic; the rest are from other
racial or ethnic groups.
•
26% have no health insurance and 53% have unpaid medical bills.
•
32% of households receive Food Stamps and 40% of those with
preschool children participate in the Supplemental
Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
•
83% of food pantries, 65% of kitchens and 74% of shelters
say that
eliminating the food bank would have a
significant or devastating
impact on them.
The
data will help the Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin
plan to meet the growing need. Food distribution to programs
in the 16-county service area increased to nearly 4 million
pounds last year, up 30% over the previous year.
The
food bank is now distributing an average of 20,000 pounds
of food each day.
The
largest increase in distribution came from the Mobile Pantry
program, where the food bank works with individual agencies
to take a food-filled truck to a neighborhood and distribute
the food directly to people in need.
Another
way to measure the increase is to look at the number of pounds
the food bank is providing per person in need. In fiscal
year 2003/2004, that number was 29 pounds per person. Last
year, the number rose to 44 pounds per person. The poverty
rate in the 16 counties served by the food bank rose 5% during
the same period.
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