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| Sobering Statistics |
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Did You Know...
- 13.2 % of Americans (38.2 million people) are “food insecure”
sometime during the year. (Source: Center on Hunger and Poverty)
- 27% of the food produced for human consumption in America is
wasted.
(Source: US Department of Agriculture)
- “Food Insecurity” has been described as "a condition, in which
people lack basic food intake to provide them with the energy and
nutrients for fully productive lives."
(Source: Hunger Task Force)
- Downtown Los Angeles is bordered by the 110, 101 and the 10
freeways. Within those 20 square blocks and amongst the skyscrapers
that characterize the prosperity of this city, there are 106
nonprofits feeding the hungry. Some of these soup kitchens, food
pantries and shelters are feeding up to 1000 people each day.
- There are 752 non governmental social service agencies providing
emergency food in Los Angeles County.
(Source: Shelter Partnership and Healthy City Los Angeles)
- More than 900,000 Californians don’t have the means to put food
into their stomach on a regular basis.
(Source: UCLA Center for Public Policy Research)
- The three fastest growing segments within the hunger arena are
children, seniors and working families who despite their efforts
still do not have enough food to eat.
(Source: EndHunger.com)
- The official poverty rate in the U.S. has increased for four
consecutive years, from a 26-year low of 11.3% in 2000 to 12.7% in
2004. This means that 37.0 million people were below the official
poverty thresholds in 2004. This is 5.4 million more than in 2000.
The poverty rate for children under 18 years old increased from
16.2% to 17.8% over that period.
- The number of poor children in California has grown from 11% in
the late 1960s to almost 19% in 2000, compared with 16% for the rest
of the United States.
(Source: Public Policy Institute of California)
- California continues to be the nation’s leading agricultural
producer with 31.8 billion in direct farm sales in 2004.
(Source: California Department of Food and Agriculture).
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