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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – New York, NY – August 25, 2011 – City Harvest, the world’s first and New York City’s only food rescue program, and Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization, today released a new study which reveals that 25% of children under the age of 18 struggle with hunger in the five boroughs of New York City.
“Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2011” provides both national and local data. It reveals that one in six Americans overall is food insecure, but that the rate for children is much higher: nearly one in four children across the country is food insecure. The data for New York City shows similar findings, however, a significant difference exists borough to borough:
· Bronx County (The Bronx) has the highest rates of overall food insecurity and child food insecurity, 21% and 32%, respectively.
· Kings County (Brooklyn) has the second highest rates, 18% and 25% respectively. Brooklyn contains the most food insecure children, over 160,000.
· The lowest rates of overall food insecurity and child food insecurity are in Richmond County (Staten Island): 12% and 21%.
A detailed table of findings is attached. Food insecurity is defined by the USDA as household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food. While most food insecure children live at or below 185% of the poverty and line and are eligible for food assistance, many are not. Close to 1 in 3 children in New York City who don’t always know where their next meal will come from live in households ineligible for food assistance such as food stamps or WIC.
“This data comes out at a critical time,” said Jilly Stephens, executive director of City Harvest. “Cuts are being debated that could result in soup kitchens and food pantries seeing the lowest amount of food they can remember, while at the same time, people on extremely limited incomes could lose a vital supplement to their food budgets.”
This research is supported by ConAgra Foods Foundation. The ConAgra Foods Foundation funded this research with the goal of advancing the collective understanding of child hunger in America, so that resources at the local and national level could be better leveraged to help children and families in need.
The research is based on “Map the Meal Gap 2011: Food Insecurity Estimates at the County Level”, supported by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and Nielsen.
About City Harvest
Now serving New York City for more than 25 years, City Harvest (www.CityHarvest.org) is the world’s first food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women, and children. This year, City Harvest will collect over 30 million pounds of excess food from all segments of the food industry, including restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms. This food is then delivered free of charge to nearly 600 community food programs using a fleet of trucks and bikes as well as volunteers on foot. Each week, City Harvest helps over 300,000 hungry New Yorkers find their next meal.
City Harvest also addresses issues that surround hunger in New York City by supporting affordable access to nutritious food in low-income communities, educating individuals, families, and communities in the prevention of diet-related diseases, channeling a greater amount of fresh produce into high-need areas, and enhancing the ability of agency partners to feed hungry men, women, and children.
About Feeding America
Feeding America provides low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 37 million Americans each year, including 14 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks support 61,000 agencies that address hunger in all of its forms. For more information on how you can fight hunger in your community and across the country, visit http://www.feedingamerica.org. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/FeedingAmerica or follow our news on Twitter at twitter.com/FeedingAmerica.
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