Food and Hunger Durring the last century our world had a tremendous increase in population and as you know it is still growing. This fluxuation in people has caused us to re evaluate our food avaibility. Take a look at the picture below. This young child is from Somilia where he is being immunized against measles and given a vitamn A capsule at a UNICEF-assisted outreach clinic.He is very lucky. Many children do not even get this.


Athough thes probles exist in third world countries most people do not know they also exist here in America.Despite the strong economy that has been a boom for millions of Americans, many remain locked in a poverty that includes hunger.In 1998, approximately 14 million American children were food insecure, meaning they were hungry or at risk of hunger. The picture below represents one of these children.

Michelle Leneski is her name. Her father is a construction worker while her mom is a fulltime parent. Sometimes they have no money to eat so they have to rely on the food banks which are becoming more bare with the stronger demand. While many people donate to these locations it is simply not enough. There needs to be a more equal distribution of wealth and food. For many Americans, wages have simply not risen enough in the last years to cover the increased cost of living, and food has become an unaffordable luxury. Of those people seeking emergency food relief, 35% - more than 1 in 3 - had to choose between paying their rent and buying food.

Hunger is also a sad reality for thousands of farmers and ranchers living in rural America today. One in 10 households in rural America face hunger. Take for example, South Dakota. Here, 17% of individual farming operations were eliminated in the last five years. This, in a state where agriculture accounts for 23 percent of the gross output.Not only does this not help the individual farmers but it hurts everyone who needs food.


*More than 33 percent of households in agriculturally based communities have annual incomes below $15,000.*

Not only does this problem pertains to low income families and children but to older people also. Approximately 33 million Americans (13% of the population) are 65 years or older. Nearly 20% of older Americans, one in five, live in poverty or near poverty. Because of their rising medical bills and a very low income some older people have to choose between their medicine or food. This MUST be stoped. Preliminary estimates indicate that 89.9 percent of American households were food secure in 1999, up 0.6 percentage point from 1995. This is a good sign but surely not enough improvent to let up quite yet. 10% of the United States still has food insecurity. These unjusts in our society have casued problems for many people.

Although equality is a common goal among all of us nothing is being done about it. One way you can help is by writing letters to the President and your state representives declaring that there must be a stop put to hunger in America. Anotther way is to start a petition form. I have already designed one for you. Simply click on the form below and go from there!



Some Related Links:


World Hunger Education Service (WHES)- this site,An online publication of the World Hunger Education Service (WHES), offers current information on different countries(US, Africa...), infor on how it help with hunger, and much more!!

Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO)- Here you will find statistics on hunger,information in ficheries, proper nutrition and some current news events.

Bread for the World-this site is a Christian voice for ending hunger in the new century. Developed 25 years ago they offer much infromation about how you can help to end hunger.

The Feinstein Foundation- Founded by Alan Shawn Feinstein this site is the location of the petition on this page. Here he offers scholarships for students and information on programs offered to become educated on hunger.




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