Child Hunger Statistics

Federal Poverty Level Income for a family of 3 $1383 per month.
Average Rent in the US for a family of 3 $477 per month.
Average Child Care for 2 children in the US $780 per month.
Monthly Income remaining for utilities, transportation, health care, food - $126

• Food Security is the ability to access food in a consistent, socially acceptable manner to meet the family's nutritional needs.  Food security is the ability to buy, grow or have other sources of food - that are sustainable, and do not include emergency food supplies.

• Food Insecurity is the inablitiy to access food in a consistent manner, require emergency food assistance, but try to have enough to feed the children.  Adults in food insecure households may skip meals.

• Hunger: condition where both the adults and children cannot access food consistently and have to reduce food intake, eat poor diets and often go without any food.

Hunger In The US

• The USDA reported 22.7 million adults and 12.4 million children, a total of 35.1 million Americans were hungry or at risk of hunger in 2005.

• The maximum monthly food stamp benefit in 2004 for a family of four is $471 or $1.31 per person per meal... The average per-person monthly benefit is $84 or 93 cents per meal. some households only receive the minimum benefit of $10.

• A household may not participate in the Food Stamp Program if it has more than $2,000 in savings or other assets ($3,000 for households with elderly or disabled members).

• Minimum Wage is 30 percent lower in purchasing power than it was, on average, in the 1970s

The Working Poor - Common Myth
If you can get a job, you can make a living in America

Job Gap Report for 2005
A single person needs to earn $9.07/hour to survive
Household 4 - 2 adults (1 working) with 2 children 
Living wage (hourly)  $19.11
# of jobs that pay a living wage  73,960
% of jobs held that pay less than a Living Wage  81.91%
* Northwest Federation of Community Organizations Study

Moving Food Is Only A Part Of The Answer
Adding more and more federal program to assist children in getting food is still not addressing the long-term and more lasting solutions to the root cause of childhood hunger:

•  Poverty, joblessness, homelessness, lack of health care and others.

•  It is an uphill, never-ending task if we focus only on providing food just for the weekend, not even starting on the problem of getting children food throughout the summer and a healthy dinner every day.

Michael Wilson, Program Coordinator & Stan Curtis, CEO.