American Hunger “No matter how you say it, Hunger Hurts”

Hunger in our Backyard 1 in 4 children in Arkansas live in poverty…

For 1 in 6 Americans, hunger is a reality. Nearly 14 million children are estimated to be served by Feeding America, over 3 million of which are ages 5 and under. The states of Arkansas (24.4 percent) and Texas (24.3 percent) have the highest rates of children in households without consistent access to food. (Cook, John,Child Food Insecurity in the United States:

Numbers don’t lie… According to the USDA, in 2009, over 17 million children lived in food insecure households. The top five states with the highest rate of food insecure children under 18 are Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, Missouri, Mississippi, as well as the District of Columbia

32 percent of pantries, 42 percent of kitchens, and 18 percent of shelters in the Feeding America network reported "many more children in the summer" being served by their programs

15.5 million or approximately 20.7 percent of children in the U.S. live in poverty.

During the 2009 federal fiscal year, 19.5 million low- income children received free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program. Unfortunately, just 2.2 million of these same income-eligible children participated in the Summer Food Service Program that same year.

Effects of Hunger poor academic achievement school dropout abuse and neglect behavioral and socioemotional problems physical health problems developmental delays

5 MYTHS ABOUT HUNGER

No one goes hungry in America… …almost 15 percent of U.S. households - are now "food insecure”.

Ending malnourishment is merely a humanitarian concern. …Hunger threatens our economic future and our national security.

Children are the only ones who go hungry. …The person most likely to be hungry is a single, working mother.

The food that America wastes could feed everybody. … it is unfit to eat or impractical to collect.

Hunger is about food. … hunger isn't about food; It's about jobs and wages.

Help stop Hunger

Stamp Out Hunger Now in its 19th year, the Stamp Out Hunger food drive, which is always held on the second Saturday in May, has become the nation’s largest single-day food drive. In 2010, drive organizers representing nearly 1,500 U.S. Post Office branches across the country, collected a record- setting total of 77.1 million pounds of food donations. This pushed the historical total for the drive to more than one billion pounds of food.

Feeding America HELP FEED AMERICA'S HUNGRY: Our mission is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger.

Food Bank of NEA The Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas works to eliminate hunger by distributing food to people in need through a network of non-profit agencies and programs.

Helping Neighbors Located on the corner of Huntington and Vine Streets in Jonesboro, AR. Serves all of Craighead Country. Open year round! Phone: (870) Monday through Thursday (except holidays) from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m

Hunger is a reality