Hunger to increase in US due to short-sighted cuts

Take a moment to watch this video and to read the accompanying report.

Already we are seeing the impact of cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or Food Stamps).  Dig a little deeper:  read up on this very helpful benefit to working, low-income families and individuals.

Consider the impact of the proposed cuts.  Think beyond the affect on those who use the program.  Think also about the impact on the retail grocery industry and on related jobs.  Consider health care costs resulting from people being forced to consume food products that are cheap, high calorie and unhealthy.

Being penny wise and pound foolish never gets us where we want or need to be.

Your thoughts?

Obesity: Sign of Poverty, Hunger

Obesity among the poor seems counter-intuitive.  But, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense.

Low-income families work from restricted budgets, restrictions that apply to grocery shopping and food choices.  In addition, thousands of low-income families live in areas of the city that offer limited and often unhealthy grocery purchasing alternatives. 

If you live on limited income, you will likely learn to purchase cheaper food products that will satisfy hunger quickly, choices that invariably include high percentages of high calorie and high sodium, processed products.  Fast foods, chips, sodas and high carbohydrates lead to problems with weight, as well as chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity. 

Add to this the fact that many low-income neighborhoods do not offer safe, secure areas for exercise and you have a perfect formula for overweight children and adults. 

Consider:

Children experiencing homelessness are sick four times more often than other children and they go hungry twice the rate of other children.  Nutritional deficiencies in homeless children often lead to increased rates of being overweight and obese. National Center on Family Homelessness

There are much higher rates of obesity observed at every age of children experiencing homelessness than in other populations.  About one-third of U. S. adults (33.8%) are obese.  Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese.  Since 1980, obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has almost tripled.  There are significant racial and ethnic disparities in obesity prevalence among U. S. children and adolescents.  In 2007-2008, Hispanic boys aged 2-19 years were significantly more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white boys, and non-Hispanic black girls were significantly more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white girls. Obese children are more likely to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which are risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD).  In one study, 70% of obese children had at least one CVD risk factor, and 39% had two or more.  Obese children are at grater risk of social and psychological problems, such as discrimination and poor self-esteem, which can continue into adulthood.  Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Obese children may show other signs of poor nutrition, including iron deficiency and anemia.  For low-income children, obesity may be associated with household food insecurity.  Children's Health Fund

Efforts that work to improve the health and wellness status of poor children must include nutritional concerns.  Food pantries, food banks, community health clinics, public policy leaders, economic development organizations, farmers' markets, urban farmers and neighborhood associations must work to improve access to better and more choices in food selection for poor families. 

Poverty among U. S. children: 1 in 4!!!

Are you surprised?  Poverty is the most serious problem facing the United States today.  The following report reveals just how pervasive the challenge continues to be.



U.S. Child Poverty Second Highest Among Developed Nations:

The latest edition of UNICEF's report on child poverty in developed countries found that 30 million children in 35 of the world's richest countries live in poverty. Among those countries, the United States ranks second on the scale of what economists call "relative child poverty" -- above Latvia, Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, and 29 others. Only Romania ranks higher, with 25.5 percent of its children living in poverty, compared with 23.1 percent in the U.S.

The term "relative child poverty" refers to a child living in a household where the disposable income is less than half of the national median income. Many critics argue that relative poverty isn't the same as real hardship, or absolute poverty.

But the report brushes that away. Poverty is "essentially a relative concept," it says. For example, a little more than a century ago, the wealthiest people in the world didn't have cars. It concedes, however, that the measurement has some weaknesses. First, a child's well-being doesn't always correspond to the parents' income. Second, comparing the relative poverty rates of various countries doesn't make sense unless the countries have similar median incomes.

Because of these weaknesses the report considers "child deprivation." To measure this, researchers produced a list of 14 items found in most middle-class households and counted the number of children whose families couldn't afford them. The list included Internet connection, new clothes, three daily meals, two pairs of properly fitting shoes, and "the opportunity, from time to time, to invite friends home to play and eat."

•#35: Romania 25.5% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median. Putting that line at 60% of the median, and the percentage rises to 32.3%.

•#34: United States 23.1% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median. Around 1.2% of the GDP is public spending on families in cash transfers, tax breaks and services.

•#33: Latvia 18.8% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median. 15.9% of children are lacking five or more items on the deprivation index.

•#32: Bulgaria 17.8% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median. For children living in homes where parents are jobless, the deprivation rate shoots up to 85.2%, the second-worst of the European countries.

•#31: Spain 17.1% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median.

•#30: Greece 16% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median. The deprivation rate for children is over 40% when assessed looking at whether or not the child is from a migrant family (at least one parent is foreign-born).

•#29: Italy 15.9% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median.

•#28: Lithuania 15.4% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#27: Japan 14.9% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#26: Portugal 14.7% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#25: Poland 14.5% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#24: Canada 13.3% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median. Canada has the same level of relative child poverty as the United States, but once taxes and benefits are taken into consideration, the number is almost halved.

•#23: Luxembourg 12.3% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#22: United Kingdom 12.1% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#21: Estonia1 1.9% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#20; New Zealand 11.7% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#19: Slovakia 11.2% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#18: Australia 10.9% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#17: Hungary 10.3% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#16: Belgium 10.2% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#15: Malta 8.9% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#14: France 8.8% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#13: Germany 8.5% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#12: Ireland 8.4% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#11: Switzerland 8.1% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#10: Czech Republic 7.4% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#8: Austria (tied) 7.3% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#8: Sweden (tied) 7.3% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#7: Denmark 6.5% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#6: Slovenia 6.3% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#3: Norway (tied)6.1% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#3: Netherlands (tied) 6.1% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#3: Cyprus (tied) 6.1% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#2: Finland 5.3% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

•#1: Iceland 4.7% of children live in households with an equivalent income lower than 50% of the national median

Sheldon Danziger, the director of the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan, said the report does a good job of summing up what many economists have believed for a long time. "Among rich countries, the U.S. is exceptional," he said. "We are exceptional in our tolerance of poverty."

Danziger said he was especially impressed by a figure showing Canada and the U.S. have the same relative child poverty rate -- 25.1 The chart also showed that after government taxes, benefits and other social programs, Canada's child poverty rate drops to 13.1, while America's barely budges, hovering above 23.1 percent.

"Basically, other countries do more," he said. "They tend to have minimum wages that are higher than ours. The children would be covered universally by health insurance. Other countries provide more child care."

In a new book, Jane Waldfogel, a professor of social work at Columbia University, writes that the Labour Government's efforts to combat child poverty in the U.K. were "larger and more sustained than in the United States." Shortly after he became prime minister in 1997, Tony Blair found himself staring at a UNICEF report similar to this new one, except that England's child poverty ranking was much higher.

So Blair's government instituted programs modeled after former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. The U.K. developed Sure Start -- an early-care program for low-income children similar to the U.S. Head Start. British families could apply for the Working Tax Credit, similar to the U.S. Earned Income Tax Credit.

The Labour Party spent more on these programs, even as the U.S. spent less, and within five years the number of children living in "absolute poverty" in the U.K. had fallen by half. According to the UNICEF report, 12.1 percent of British children now live in relative poverty -- nearly half the percentage of American children.

Read entire report  here. 

Historic day: No foolin'! 20,000 pounds of groceries serve well over 400 shoppers!

Last Wednesday at the CitySquare Resource Center on Haskell Avenue in inner city East Dallas, our team distributed 20,000 pounds of very healthy grocery products to over 400 neighbors who came to shop. 

When I saw the crowds lined up down Haskell almost all the way to Elm Street, I knew we were experiencing the largest food distribution day in our history.  I just didn't know how big the day would be. 

Our staff worked until 8:00 p.m. to make sure all were served. 

Hunger in a city like Dallas, Texas?

Childhood hunger, a national disgrace

CitySquare works throughout the year on issues related to hunger. 

A large part of what we do relates directly to childhood hunger.  During the last two summers, we've distributed over 1MM meals to children who qualify for the free and reduced lunch program during the school year.  Getting to know these children and their families has been a great experience.  Observing the challenges facing these same families motivates us to continue the battle against hunger and food insecurity in Dallas and beyond.  (FYI:  Exciting news will be coming soon relative to our plans to do even more, and in other cities.) 

A national, partner organization, Share Our Strength produced the video you can access below that deals with childhood hunger and allows the voices of children to convey the sobering message. 



I invite you to join CitySquare TODAY in the fight against hunger in our community!

Food Deserts

Dr. Mark DeHaven is a member of CitySquare Board of Directors!

Thanksgiving 2011: Widening wealth/poverty gap

Challenging thoughts for Thanksgiving. . .I posted this same material last year. . .things are now worse. . .

Poverty and Thanksgiving: A Call to Close the Rich-Poor Gap

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. It calls forth the essential spiritual value of gratitude. I have precious memories of feasts shared with family and with good friends at congregational dinners. I eagerly anticipate this year's gathering.

Imagine inviting family and friends over for Thanksgiving dinner and feeding some of them a lavish feast and some of them scraps and leftovers. While some are served an overabundance of delicious food, others receive tiny portions of unappetizing leavings. Horrible thought!

Two apparently unrelated headlines caught my eye a few weeks ago as I surfed my usual news sites. I can't get them out of my mind. The first is a truly major development: The percentage of people living in poverty in the United States is the highest in half a century. One out of seven Americans lives in poverty.

The second headline was a mere tidbit in the business news. It said something to the effect that companies that make things no one really needs have done very well in this recession. Though apparently unrelated, the two items are, of course, intimately connected. The poor are getting poorer and their numbers are increasing while the rich are doing very well. They continue to buy high tech gadgets and luxury items.

These news items should have been a major religious story. At one level, the growing gap between rich and poor is an economic and political issue. But it is also a moral and, ultimately, a religious issue. There is a temptation to see economic relationships as the result of uncontrollable forces. As a matter of fact, allowing this widening gap between rich and poor is a choice -- a moral choice. And it is a moral choice with enormous spiritual consequences.

All of the great religious traditions teach us that we are connected to one another. Every human being is my brother or sister. Every faith teaches compassion, that those who love God express that by loving others. Every faith also teaches us that we become fully human in community.

Economic inequality pollutes human relationships the way smog pollutes our lungs. Just look at life where the gaps between rich and poor are greatest -- Latin America and Africa. And look back to when the gap was greatest in American history. These were times of slavery and robber barons.

I know from my years in parish ministry the financial strains that beset families. I have seen a member lose her home because of predatory lending practices and witnessed the devastation of a sudden illness. The Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2009 59.1 million Americans had no health insurance, and we know that catastrophic health expenses can plunge families into poverty. Why is it that the United States is the only country in the developed world without universal health insurance for its citizens? And why here, in the richest country in the world, did more than 1 million children go hungry in 2008, according to the Dept. of Agriculture? These are more than political issues; these are spiritual issues as well.

Inequality breeds fear, bitterness, suspicion, crime and violence. It eats away at the dignity and self esteem of the poor while it hardens the hearts of the rich. Inequality numbs our spirits. Ultimately it dehumanizes us. Ironically, social psychology shows us that our grandmothers were right: The rich are not happier.

The answer is not some romantic neo-Marxist notion of a perfect equality. But neither is it the uncontrolled and rapacious avarice that sacrifices people to profit margins and outrageous consumption.

The growing gap between rich and poor harms us all. We can choose a better way. Let us share the bounty of the earth. There is enough for everyone at the Thanksgiving table.

[To read the original from The Huffington Post, click here.]

"No Kid Hungry Dallas Summit"

Join CitySquare for Food Stamped!

Food, Inc. to show at CityWalk!

Summer Lunch numbers

For several years now, CitySquare has contracted with the Texas Department of Agriculture to provide the summer lunch program to children who receive the benefit during the school year.  The logistics of providing so many meals to a "scattered" population are challenging to say the least! 

Sonia White directs CitySquare's Nurture, Knowledge and Nutrition division which administers the food delivery program during the summer, as well at to a growing number of program sites during the year who operate after school programs.  Sonia has been recognized as a state and national leader in childhood nutrition and feeding programs. 

Here's a rundown on our summer numbers:

In 2009, we had 142 sites where we served approximately 382,800 meals to 10,000 children, total. For the mobile, that included 18 stops, 50,000 meals to approximately 1800 children. We had 5 sites in Austin, where approximately 150 children were served 3000 meals.

In 2010, we had 213 sites total, where we served approximately 717,000 meals to 17,000 children. For the mobile, that included 95 unique sites, 285,000 meals to 8000 children. In Austin we again had 5 sites, where approximately 200 children were served 6000 meals

We are projecting that in 2011, we will have 258 sites serving over 26,000 children, over 1,100,000 meals. The mobile would make up approximately 100 unique sites, 500,000 meals to 10,000 children. The Austin project would have 37 sites, 50,000 meals to 1200 children.

Even with this amazing growth, there are still 275,000 children in Dallas county eligible for this program who are NOT being served through our sites. I would guess that MAYBE a combined 25,000 of these children MIGHT be served through other sponsors in Dallas County.

16th Annual Urban Ministries Prayer Breakfast with David Beckmann

CitySquare (formerly Central Dallas Ministries) invites you to attend our 16th Annual Urban Ministries Prayer Breakfast and Public Forum on March 3, 2011, at Dallas Market Center – Grand Pavilion.


CitySquare exists to fight the root causes of poverty by partnering with those in need. Working together as a community, we feed the hungry, heal the sick, house the homeless and renew hope in the heart of our city.

From the beginning, addressing the hunger needs of our neighbors has been at the heart of our work. In 1988, CitySquare began as a small store front food pantry. It is from this humble beginning that the work of CitySquare has grown.

The problems we see every day come from harsh realities. Texas has the 2nd highest rate of “food insecurity” in the U.S. and the highest rate of child hunger in the nation. We are hosting this year’s breakfast event in honor of the families in our communities that struggle to provide nutritious meals for their loved ones each day.

The Prayer Breakfast and Public Forum will give you an opportunity to learn about the problems associated with “food insecurity”, CitySquare’s unique response, and how you can join us in the fight against hunger. Together we can make sure there truly is FOOD FOR ALL.

When:   Thursday, March 03, 2011 7:00 AM -9:00 AM

Where:   Dallas Market Center (Grand Pavilion, 2100 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75207)

For information about tickets, tables and sponsorship levels click here

About our featured speaker:  World Food Prize laureate David Beckmann is one of the foremost U.S. advocates for hungry and poor people. He has been president of Bread for the World since 1991, leading large-scale and successful campaigns to strengthen U.S. political commitment to overcome hunger and poverty in the U.S. and globally.


Beckmann is also president of Bread for the World Institute, which provides policy analysis on hunger and strategies to end it. He founded and serves as president of the Alliance to End Hunger, which engages diverse U.S. institutions—Muslim and Jewish groups, corporations, unions, and universities—in building the political will to end hunger. He is also the author of the recently released book, Exodus from Hunger.

Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. Bread for the World members meet with and write personal letters and emails to their members of Congress. It is one of the largest organizations in the world dedicated to building the political will to end hunger.

Don't miss this very special opportunity to hear one of our nation's leading voices in the fight against poverty and hunger today.

[For more information contact lgoolsby@citysq.org.]

Hunger, pressing reality

Help CitySquare (formerly Central Dallas Ministries) fight hunger and its devastating results in the lives of children and adults. Make a generous year-end gift today at www.CitySq.org.

Thanks!

[Note: David Beckman, President of Bread for the World and featured in this video report, will be our featured speaker at our annual urban ministries prayer breakfast next spring.]

FOX News: School lunch programs impact poverty

School Lunch Programs Might Break Poverty Cycle
Published November 24, 2010

Teens who live in households where food is scarce suffer academically, but a new study has found that government programs to provide meals in schools can reverse this effect.

According to the researchers, the findings suggest that school programs aimed at reducing so-called food insecurity can break an insidious cycle of poverty: poor children go hungry, get bad grades, don't go on to college and fail to rise out of their socioeconomic status -- raising children whose lives follow the same unfortunate narrative.

"Food insecurity is more problematic in the long term if it occurs prior to adolescence, but it doesn't mean that adolescents are more resilient than younger children," said study leader Christelle Roustit, of the Research Group on the Social Determinants of Health and Healthcare, in Paris, France. The researchers reported their findings in the medical journal Pediatrics.

The severe recession has taken a toll on food security. In the United States, a recent report by the Department of Agriculture found that nearly 15% of American households faced food insecurity at some point in 2009, the highest level since officials began tracking the measure in 1995.

Food insecurity in childhood is thought to undercut scholastic achievement in at least two ways. It deprives the body of nutrients necessary for proper mental and physical development, and it creates an atmosphere of stress and uncertainty that saps a kid's desire to attend school and to perform well.

In the new study, Roustit and her colleagues analyzed questionnaires given to 2,346 public high school students in Quebec, Canada, along with nearly 2,000 of their parents. The surveys asked about issues of school performance and socioeconomic status and included several questions addressing food security at home. These included whether a lack of money prevented the family from eating enough, or from buying a sufficient variety of foods.

Just over 11 percent of teens in the study experienced food insecurity at home, according to the researchers. Of those, two-thirds attended schools that offered free or low-cost breakfast, lunch or snacks, allowing the researchers to look for an effect of the meals program on academic performance.

The study revealed that food insecurity was strongly associated with problems in school. However, children with food insecurity at home performed significantly better academically if their school offered meal assistance. They were much less likely to be held back a year, to score badly in language testing or to rate their overall academic performance as poor.

Although the data come from the 1990s, Roustit said a new survey of Quebec adolescents is now in progress. "We would be able to compare the results of 1999 to 2009 in few years," she said.

Nicola Edwards, a dietician and food policy expert at California Food Policy Advocates, an Oakland-based nonprofit, said the results of the study are unsurprising.

If children are hungry they cannot learn, Edwards said. "There is a direct correlation between food insecurity and academic performance," she said.

In the United States, teachers and school administrators report that children who take advantage of food assistance programs in schools have improved behavior, fewer absences and better test scores, Edwards added.

Under the federal Child Nutrition Act, more than 31 million American school children receive free or inexpensive lunches through the National School Lunch Program. Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level ($28,665 for a family of four) are eligible for free meals. Those with incomes between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level ($40,793 for a family of four) are eligible to receive lunch for a cost of no more than 40 cents.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National School Lunch Program cost $9.8 billion in 2009. A study of this program that was published earlier this year supports the Canadian findings. Dr. Peter Hinrichs at Georgetown University in Washington DC reported in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management that for children who participate in the National School Lunch Program, "the effects on educational attainment are sizable."

[Visit the FOX site here.]

Food on the Move, Again!

Texas poverty growing. . .

This press release came on Thursday, September 16, 2010 from the Texas Food Bank Network:

Census: 17.3% of Texans Live in Poverty


2.5% Increase in Child Poverty Demands Action, Say Advocates

New Census data released this morning revealed that 4,262,000 Texans (17.3%), including 1,774,000 children (25.6%), lived under the federal poverty line in 2009. These new numbers represent a 1.4% rise in poverty statewide, and a 2.5% jump in child poverty over the previous year.

The sharp rise in child poverty comes at a time when Congress is considering legislation, known as the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, that would feed more hungry children.

“If these numbers don’t convey a sense of urgency, I don’t know what will,” said JC Dwyer, State Policy Director of the Texas Food Bank Network. “We need Congress to act now to ensure that all our children have access to basic nutrition as they learn and grow.”

In 2009, the poverty line for a family of four in Texas was $22,050. Research has shown that growing up in persistent poverty poses high risks to child health and development, particularly when children are faced with malnutrition.

The legislation under debate would strengthen the nation’s most successful child nutrition programs, including school meals, summer meals and after-school snacks. However, advocates are concerned that legislators may try to offset the cost of improvements by cutting other programs for the poor, notably SNAP (aka food stamps).

“Clearly, now is not the time to divest in the institutions we’ve created to address these problems,” said Dwyer, referencing both federal and state programs. “We need them now more than ever.”

The Texas Food Bank Network provides a unified voice among nineteen food banks in support of a common mission to end hunger in Texas. Follow breaking news, commentary and analysis at Twitter.com/TexansVsHunger.

Summer Lunch Program

Judy Pasternak, a writer/reporter, published an insightful article with aolnews.com on the benefits and challenges of the Summer Lunch Program in the U. S.

It is definitely worth a read. Central Dallas Ministries' involvement with the lunch program over the past several years has placed us up close to the lives and struggles of very low-income children and families.

This summer, our Food on the Move initiative that teamed up with PepsiCo's Food for Good effort, CDM AmeriCorps and the Texas Department of Agriculture to feed over 16,000 children more than 500,000 meals at 209 locations in Dallas County--more than twice as many as last year. PepsiCo's mobile capacity allowed us to extend into areas where children live without the benefit of organized summer programs. Clearly, we were reaching some of the most hungry children in our community.

Pasternak's report is revealing.

Record Number of US Kids Facing Summer of Hunger

AOL News WASHINGTON (June 16) -- With the school year ending in communities across America, more than 16 million children face a summer of hunger.

While classes were in session, they relied on free or discount cafeteria meals subsidized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But they will not be reached by the patchwork summer food programs financed by the USDA, which feed fewer than one in five of the total number of kids poor enough to qualify.

The children caught in the gap will likely spend the next few months cadging leftovers from neighbors, chowing down on cheap junk, lining up with their families at food banks that are already overmatched or simply learning to live with a constant headache, growling stomach and chronic fatigue. When school rolls around again in the fall, they will be less healthy and less ready to learn than their peers.

To read the entire report click here.

What to eat when funds are tight?

Here's more from NPR on poverty and hunger among U. S. families.

Alex Williamson, 8, doesn't look very hungry — in fact, he's a little chubby. But Alex, who lives in Carlisle, Pa., is one of 17 million children who live in U.S. households where getting enough food is a challenge.

The Obama administration has pledged to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. A key element of that challenge is to make sure the food hungry children eat is nutritious. They're lofty goals that will be difficult to achieve.

Alex's mom, Connie Williamson, says she tries to give her son healthy food but doesn't always succeed.

"When he gets up on his own, he'll go find what he wants," she says. "He'll get a hot dog bun, or get a piece of bread. He'll get an ice pop or something."

And that's exactly what he did early one morning, before his family headed out to the local food pantry. Alex ate a blue ice pop for breakfast.

To read the full report click here.

Or, to listen simply play here. 

Hunger and American Families

Here's a moving story that aired earlier this week on NPR. It's "part one" of a series of reports on American hunger. You'll hear from U. S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon, who traveled to Dallas earlier this summer to swear in our AmeriCorps and VISTA teams.

Texas kids: hungry and obese

Recent reports indicate that far too many Texas children battle the twin, and seemingly paradoxical challenges of hunger ("food insecurity") and obesity. 

How can this be? 

Here's a report news report from  Austin, Texas.

Garcia: Texas children sandwiched between hunger and obesity

Eileen Garcia, Local Contributor
Tuesday, July 13, 2010


Two recent reports relayed bad and seemingly paradoxical news for Texas children. According to the latest research, our Texas kids, more than almost any in the country, face threats from both hunger and obesity.

Nearly one out of four Texas children is "food insecure," meaning they might not know where their next meal will come from, says a July 1 report from Feeding America, which ranked Texas 49th in the country for providing reliable food access for children under 18. The same week, however, the Trust for America's Health announced Texas children suffer disproportionately from obesity. More than 20 percent of kids here are obese, and Texas had the seventh-highest child obesity ranking.

Underlying these statistics is a sad reality: Too many children get poorly nourished because their environment—at school, in the neighborhood and their community—proves inhospitable to healthy eating. Four factors help explain why.

To read on, click here.

We've got to focus and find ways to do better.  What do you think?