One in eight Americans needed emergency food help in 2009—–one of five children in New York City are relying on emergency food.

These sad statistics come from Feeding America and the Food Bank for New York City.

“Food insecure” is the bureaucratic term for hungry people — and New York is, unfortunately, a textbook case in food insecurity. Our food pantries and soup kitchens are overloaded. Yet, without a healthy infusion of federal stimulus money, it could be a lot worse. So says Joel Berg, executive director of the NYC Coalition Against Hunger.

Berg says 37% of South Bronx residents had trouble affording food in the last year. “The federal stimulus money is helping us avert disaster,” Berg continued. “We are fortunate to have that money at this time.”

Source/Full Story: NBC New York

Related Items