Shocking Need: Millions of American Kids Go Hungry

[Cali_Democrat]

Repeat after me: Less war and more assistance to the poor.

As many as 17 million children nationwide are struggling with what is known as food insecurity.

By KIMBERLY BROWN
August 24, 2011

...
Every day, children in every county in the United States wake up hungry. They go to school hungry. They turn out the lights at night hungry.

That is one of the stunning key findings of a new study to be released Thursday by Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks and the largest hunger charity in the country.

As many as 17 million children nationwide are struggling with what is known as food insecurity. To put it another way, one in four children in the country is living without consistent access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life, according to the study, "Map the Meal Child Food Insecurity 2011."

Those hungry children are everywhere, and with the uncertain economy, the numbers are only growing, experts say.

Read more...http://abcnews.go.com/US/hunger-home-american-children-malnourished/story?id=14367230

This is completely inexcusable. A country like the United States shouldn't have a single child go to bed hungry. It's insane that we are discussing spending cuts all while the Obama Administration asked Congress for a record $703 billion in the 2012 defense budget...yet millions of American children go to bed hungry.

Sheer madness. We have gone insane as a nation.

We need to do something about this. It's an absolute embarrassment.

[ProSense]

1. More interesting information

<...>

Feeding America's study, funded by ConAgra Foods, is based on 2009 statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs 15 food aid programs, including the nationwide free and subsidized school lunch program and WIC, a supplemental food program that provides tailored food supplements to pregnant women and families with children under age 5 whose household income is less than 185 percent of the gross federal poverty limit. That's an annual gross income of $41,348 for a family of four.

In fact, a shocking 49 percent of all babies born in the U.S. are born to families receiving food supplements from the WIC program, according to Jean Daniel, spokesperson for the USDA.

Previously, the only numbers available to illustrate the scope of child food insecurity across the nation were figures broken down by state.

But the newly available county-by-county numbers are aimed at helping local and federal providers of food aid better reach the people who need it.

The study also breaks down child food insecurity rates by congressional district, which could send a powerful message to Washington. The proposed House budget for 2012 includes substantial cuts to food aid programs in the 2012 budget cycle. The cuts could affect up to 350,000 recipients of the WIC program alone. The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which provides agricultural products to food banks to pass on to the poor, is also facing a proposed $50 million cut, representing one fifth of the budget for this program.

<...>

Information like this should be prominently highlighted when Republicans threaten these programs.

[Autumn]

2. What a sad state of affairs.

This isn't an embarrassment. This is a needless disgrace.

[KurtNYC]

3. if their parents are addicted to gambling, drug or booze how does the help

get to the kids? School lunch programs are a safety net for our youth.

[cutlassmama]

4. It is an atrocity. Why are we giving aid to foreign countries and not our own?

Why are we giving money to bankers? I know why we are invading foreign countries...for oil and gold. Watching the government in bed with greedy corporations who don't care about the people is sickening. Letting children starve is just disgusting. This nation has gone insane, like you said. Why don't people want to turn this country around?

[Supersedeas]

5. As Wall Street rallies around a jobless recovery

[frustrated_lefty]

6. It's called shared sacrifice.

Is there never an end to the whining from the professional left?

























:sarcasm: