Working with communities to end hunger
Ending Hunger in Your Community
Ending Hunger in Your Community
Thirty-one million or 10% of all Americans live in households that are food insecure. This means they have limited or uncertain access to the food they need to live a healthy and productive life. Even with the estimated 40 billion dollars spent by America on food assistance and government programs, 8.5 million children and adults experience hunger— the uneasy or painful sensation caused by a persistent lack of food over time. This can be ended through our Hunger Free Communities Program!
Ask yourself a couple of simple questions:
Does hunger exist in your community?
If you said "no," think again! Hunger has no borders; food pantries and soup kitchens exist in rural towns as well as in heavily populated inner cities. Hunger is not an issue limited to any one demographic such as the homeless or the unemployed. It affects families with 2 incomes who are often unable to make ends meet because the rent is too high.
Do you know what the face of hunger looks like in your community?
Imagine children going to bed hungry when the rent is due, or an elderly person choosing between food and medical attention. Imagine people relying on emergency response services to meet their daily needs—39% of the people using emergency response services in 2001 were employed full-time!
PARTNERS believes hunger and the solutions to hunger are community issues.
As a community issue, hunger is related to and impacts other concerns such as employment, education and health. It is critical to address community issues as a whole rather than treat them as unrelated issues with isolated solutions. It’s not about a lack of food or resources; there are plenty of both. It is about how we work together to support the needs of our communities.
Retired Founding Director Charlie Frair
PARTNERS asserts that hunger will end through community action. The following communities are part of our Hunger Free Communities Program and are on the Pathway for ending hunger in their communities:
Old Town, Orono, Maine
Knox County (read their full report!)
Portland, Maine
Cumberland County, Maine
For updates on
PARTNERS work and work in the communities, visit our monthly
newsletters.
PARTNERS commitment is to provide leadership, coordination and technical assistance to communities for creating effective action plans for addressing hunger at the community level. We are continually learning and evolving to meet the changing face of hunger in our country.
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