Nourishing our communities by creating a food secure world

Hunger lives among us. 

It could be your 80-year-old neighbor or the children across the street. It could be the veteran who recently returned from combat or the single mom who works full-time and struggles to make ends meet. The face of hunger looks like you and me. 

In 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began focusing on "food insecurity" instead of "hunger." Food insecurity is defined as the lack of consistent access to enough food for someone to live an active, healthy life. Food-insecure households are not necessarily food-insecure all the time. Food insecurity may reflect a household's need to make trade-offs between important basic needs, such as housing or medical bills or buying healthy foods.

One in seven people across the United States is food-insecure every day, and one in five children experience food insecurity. In 2012, 60 percent of food-insecure Americans lived in households with a full-time worker; another 15 percent lived in households with a part-time worker. Food insecurity affects the most vulnerable people in our communities. 

What can I do to help combat food insecurity? 

Helping your neighbors and community achieve food security is a big undertaking, but it can be done. Here are a few ways you can take action against food insecurity in your community:

Get informed

Learn about hunger and food insecurity in your community by contacting your local food shelf. 

Educate others.

Share what you learn and help others understand the issue so they too can help. 

Volunteer your time or talents

Start a community garden or plant an extra row in your own garden, and donate a portion (or all) of the produce to a local food shelf.  

Donate

Local food shelves are able to multiply cash donations many times over due to bulk purchasing power. Your cash donation is worth much more than you may think. 

Host a healthy food drive

Collect nutritious food for people who are hungry in your community.  A healthy food drive not only helps provide healthier food shelf options, but it also makes us mindful of the importance of donating nutritious foods when we participate in a food drive.  

Advocate

Share examples of what food insecurity looks like in your community with your local and state officials and policy makers.