|
|
| Sobering Statistics |
|
|
Did You Know...
- 17.9 % of Americans (53.8 million people) are “food insecure” sometime during the year. In 2008 the numbers were 13.2% or 38.2 million people.
(Source: FRAC: Food Research and Action Center)
- 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 36 nonprofits feeding the hungry. Some of these soup kitchens, food pantries and shelters are feeding up to 1,000 people each day.
- Today 408,000 hungry men, women and children are fed at 854 non governmental social service agencies providing emergency food in Los Angeles County. Two years ago only 216,000 people needed food each day.
(Source: Shelter Partnership and Healthy City Los Angeles)
- Now more than 2.9 million Californians don’t have the means to put food into their stomach on a regular basis. In 2007 this as only 900,000 people.
(Source: UCLA Center for Public Policy Research)
- In the world’s wealthiest nation, 16.7 million children are at risk of hunger living in households that lack the resources to provide the nutritious foods children need to thrive, all across America.”
(Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture’s report, “Household Food Security in the United States 2008)
- Over half – 55.1 percent – of food-insecure families live in households with limited incomes but above the poverty line.
- Nearly half – 48.6 percent – live in families headed by a married couple.
- Nearly one in six – 16.3 percent – live outside major metropolitan areas
- 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).
- California is the largest producer of agricultural products and the top exporting State with the State’s cash farm receipts totaled $36.1 billion.
(Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture).
|
|
|
