This week, from
America's Second Harvest, the umbrella organization for many of the nation's food banks:
CHICAGO—February 23, 2006—More than 25 million Americans—including nearly 9 million children and 3 million seniors—receive emergency food assistance each year from America's Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network of charitable agencies, representing an 8 percent increase since 2001, according to a report released today. Hunger in America 2006, based on 52,000 face-to-face interviews with people seeking emergency food assistance and more than 30,000 agency surveys, is the largest, most-comprehensive study ever conducted on domestic hunger. The study was commissioned by the America's Second Harvest Network and sponsored by Altria.
“It is tragic and alarming that more and more people are relying on emergency food assistance in the United States, where we produce enough food to feed every hungry person in the world,” said Robert Forney, President and CEO of the America's Second Harvest Network.
The research for
the report released this week was conducted by a leading consultancy on food assistance issues, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., on behalf of America's Second Harvest, with financial support from Altria -- the parent company of Kraft foods and Philip Morris cigarettes.
