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MORE THAN 13 MILLION CHILDREN ARE AT RISK OF HUNGER AS AMERICA PREPARES FOR THANKSGIVING FEAST |
Washington, DC - As Americans across the country plan their Thanksgiving feasts, 13.1 million children are living in households that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) considers "food insecure," the Children's Defense Fund reported today. The USDA classification, based on 2002 figures, means those families do not have "access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members." These households are considered to be at high risk of hunger.
The 13.1 million children live in 6.4 million food insecure households. In 265,000 of those households, one or more children went hungry last year. In another 1.2 million homes, a parent or other adult went hungry. And 4.9 million households with children were "food insecure without hunger." That means they teetered on the edge of hunger, occasionally being forced to skip meals or cut back on buying healthy food.
"In many homes struggling to put food on the table, children are fed first," said Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman. "While that sacrifice may spare the child from hunger, the whole family suffers from the strain and insecurity of not knowing where the next meal is coming from."
Compared with childless households, households with children suffer double the chances of food insecurity (16.5 percent compared with 8.1 percent), according to the USDA.
Families at risk of hunger have few options. Charitable help is stretched thin by rising demand, while government food assistance rarely lasts through the month. The average food stamp allotment is about 90 cents per person per meal, which is not enough to purchase healthy and balanced meals.
"Thanksgiving is a time when many Americans reach out to help families in need," said Edelman. "As a nation we have much to be thankful for, but many families are suffering this holiday from joblessness and poverty, and more than 13 million children are at risk of hunger. We are not a selfish people, yet the nation's policy priorities this past year should give us pause. Decisions made by our leaders in Washington to enact lavish tax cuts of $93,500 per millionaire, while budget-strapped states slash funding for schools, child care, and emergency cash assistance, counteract the generous giving of individual Americans."
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The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds. |