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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.