 A LANDMARK new study released last week by Feeding America, the leading domestic hunger-relief organization in the U.S., reported that more than 37 million people, or one in eight Americans -- including 14 million children and almost 3 million seniors -- need emergency food assistance each year from the nation's network of food banks and the agencies they serve.
The findings from "Hunger in America 2010" represent a numbing 46% increase since the organization's previous study, "Hunger in America 2006."
Furthermore, more than one in three client households are experiencing very low food security -- "or hunger" -- a 54% increase in the number of households from four years ago, according to the 2010 report.
Altogether, an estimated 5.7 million people receive emergency food assistance each week from a food pantry, soup kitchen or other agency served by one of Feeding America's more than 200 food banks, a 27% increase over the 4.5 million people reported in 2006, the report said.
The 2010 study is the first to document "the significant connection" between the economic downturn and the increased need for emergency food assistance, the announcement said.
"Clearly, the economic recession, resulting in dramatically increasing unemployment nationwide, has driven a sharp and unprecedented increase in the need for emergency food assistance and enrollment in federal nutrition programs," said Vicki Escarra, chief executive officer and president of Feeding America.
"'Hunger in America 2010' exposes the absolutely tragic reality of just how many people in our nation don't have enough to eat," Escarra said, noting that "millions of our clients are families with children (who are) finding themselves in need of food assistance for the very first time."
The report is based on data collected from February to June last year from 61,000 face-to-face, in-depth interviews with people seeking emergency food assistance and from more than 37,000 agency surveys. It represents the largest, most-comprehensive study ever conducted on domestic hunger, the announcement said.
The research was done by Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan social policy research firm in Princeton, N.J.
Escarra said the need of hungry Americans "far outpaces our current level of service" and urged increasing donations of food and funds.
Key comparative findings are shown in the Figure.
The report follows a U.S. Department of Agriculture analysis released last November that found that an unprecedented number of Americans are at risk of hunger (Feedstuffs, Nov. 23, 2009).
A summary of the Feeding America findings and the full report are available at www.feedingamerica.org/hungerstudy. | 
