How big is the hunger problem in America?
- 35 million Americans, including 12.4 million children are hungry each year
- Children are hungry all 12 months of the year, not just during the holiday season
- By February each year, most food banks experience significant food shortages
- In Oregon alone, 1 in 5 children is hungry each month
Who is hungry?
- Hunger is an income issue and afflicts working families... not just the homeless or jobless. Hunger does not discriminate based upon age, race, ethnic group, or one’s neighborhood.
- Most adults who receive emergency food are working, retired or disabled. And two-parent families make up the largest group of those receiving emergency food.

In Oregon….
- 45% of families with children and who receive food assistance have at least one full-time worker
- Nearly 200,000 people ate meals from an emergency food box in an average month in 2006. Of those, 37 percent were children. 357 food pantries distributed emergency food boxes.
- In addition, 181 soup kitchens and shelters provided 3.9-million emergency meals and 346 other agencies helped more than 80,000 people.
- Those most likely to need emergency food are families and children.

What is the impact of childhood hunger?
- Hunger impairs our children’s health, growth and development causing an even greater drain on the healthcare system.
- According to study by Sodexho Foundation, a charity focused on hunger, in 2005, the latest year of the study, mental and physical illness related to malnutrition (e.g., anemia and depression), cost the U.S government about $66.8 billion in medical care each year.
- Hunger impedes our children’s ability to learn and perform academically due to impaired cognitive functioning and diminished capacity to learn. With lower test scores and overall school performance, hungry children are more likely to experience higher rates of school absences, tardiness and suspension, as well as repeat a grade. Thus, our public education system is further strained.
- Malnutrition can hamper brain function, lowering school and job performance at an estimated price tag of $9.2 billion.
- Hunger predisposes our children to behavioral difficulties, including more aggressive behavior, higher levels of hyperactivity, anxiety and/or passivity, and difficulty getting along with other children which in turn causes drains on both the American education system and our already strained mental health services.