Hi friends of Care and Share!
This holiday season, Feeding America®, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, wants you to know TEN things about hunger in America. We have added a few bits of info. to this list to reflect Care and Share’s service area:
1. 1 in 7 Americans are food insecure, meaning that they lack consistent access to adequate amounts of nutritious food. 1 in 6 Southern Coloradans are food insecure. Further, 1 in 4 Southern Colorado children are at risk of hunger.
2. Nearly 75 percent of all SNAP benefits (formerly known as food stamps) help feed a child, senior, or someone who is disabled.
3. 1 in 5 households that receive SNAP benefits have no other household income of any kind.
4. 5 million Americans will visit a food pantry, meal program or other charitable food services this week – as they do every week of the year. Last year, Care and Share provided food to more than 122,000 Southern Coloradans.
5. 69 percent of U.S. households report choosing between paying for utilities, like heating and electricity, or paying for food in the past year. 34 percent report making this choice every month. 64 percent of Care and Share’s clients report choosing between paying for utilities or paying for food in the past year. 27 percent make this choice every month.
6. Many food insecure households reported using several coping strategies for getting enough food in the last year. For instance, more than half of households (56.1 percent) report eating food past the expiration date. An estimated 72 percent of Care and Share’s clients report eating food past its expiration date, growing food in a garden, pawing or selling personal property, and watering down food or drinks.
7. While the holidays mean no school days for kids, it can also mean empty stomachs for many. Nearly all Feeding America client households with school-aged children (94 percent) receive free or reduced-price school lunch through the National School Lunch Program.Facing hunger during the holidays and throughout the year increases the risk of a multitude of diet-related health problems.
8. 58 percent of Feeding America’s client households report that someone in their home has hypertension, 33 percent report that someone in their households has diabetes. 64 percent of Care and Share’s clients report choosing between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care at least once in the last 12 months.
9. But there is good news!: Nearly 2 million volunteers contribute more than 8.4 million hours of their time to help provide food through Feeding America network agency programs each and every month. That’s more than 100 million hours of donated labor across the Feeding America network over the course of a year. Last year, we benefited from 11,531 instances of voluneerism, culminating in 42,204 hours!
10. Every $1 donated to Feeding America helps us provide 11 meals to those at risk of hunger during the holidays and year-round. For every dollar Care and Share receives, we can provide the equivalent of 8 meals. Further, $0.95 of each dollar we receive goes directly to our hunger relief efforts, while only $0.05 goes to administrative costs.
If you would like to learn more about who we serve, please click here.
Thanks for reading and happy holidays to you and yours!
