Hunger Relief Fast Facts

• 15 million, or approximately 19 percent, of children in the United States live in poverty.
  
  
• According to USDA estimates, 7 million, or 18 percent of households with children under age 18, were food-insecure in 2007.
  
  
• Research indicates that even mild under-nutrition during critical periods of growth impacts the behavior of young children, their school performance, and their overall cognitive development.
  
  
• According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an estimated 14 million children lived in food-insecure households in 2007, an increase of 15% over 2001. [USDA/ERS, Household Food Security in the United States]
  
  
• 30 percent of client households with seniors had to choose between buying food and paying for utilities and heating fuel. [Hunger in America 2006]
  
  
• Nearly half of all non-elderly low-income families that used a food pantry last year were working families with children. [Urban Institute, Many Families Turn to Food Pantries for Help]
  
  
• 68 percent of all client households served by the America's Second Harvest Network have annual incomes below the federal poverty line for 2007.
  
  
• 30 percent of client households served in rural areas reported that their children often or sometimes did not eat enough during the past year because there was not enough money to buy food. [Hunger in America 2007]
  
  
• It is estimated that during 2007, 37 million people lived in households that at some time were unable to acquire enough food because of insufficient money.
  
  
• Overall, households with children had more than twice the rate of food insecurity as those without children.
  
  
• It is estimated that 9 million people, including 3 million children, live in homes that experience hunger—where meals are frequently skipped or individuals go without food for a whole day. [U.S. Department of Agriculture, Household Food Security in the United States, 2007]
  
  
• Millions of poor children suffer from chronic under-nutrition. Nutrient deficiencies can lead to serious health problems, including impaired cognitive development, growth failure, physical weakness, anemia, and stunting. [Tufts University School of Nutrition]

What Southern Baptists are doing about the plight of Hunger in North America

• Over $1.2 million in domestic hunger funds was distributed to 2,200 hunger ministries in North America in 2007.

• Over 3.5 million meals were fed to the hungry in North American with Domestic Hunger Funds.

• The Gospel was shared with over 560,000 people, at their point of need.

• There were over 35,000 professions of faith through hunger ministries.