USA: Three Million Seniors Seek Food Assistance

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (SeniorJournal.com), February 23, 2006: There are three million senior citizens among more than 25 million Americans --including nearly 9 million children – that receive emergency food assistance each year from America's Second Harvest -- The Nation's Food Bank Network of charitable agencies. This is an 8 percent increase since 2001, according to a report released today. Hunger in America 2006, based on 52,000 face-to-face interviews with people seeking emergency food assistance and more than 30,000 agency surveys, is the largest, most-comprehensive study ever conducted on domestic hunger. The study was commissioned by the America's Second Harvest Network and sponsored by Altria. About 70 percent of the clients seeking emergency food assistance are living below the federal poverty line, and nearly 40 percent have at least one adult working in their household. Seventy percent of clients are living in food insecure households-not knowing where they will find their next meal-and 33 percent of those clients reported experiencing hunger - that is, being completely without a source of food. About 39 percent are white; 38 percent are black; and 17 percent are Hispanic.