Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity: Ending Childhoold Hunger in America

From the Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity: 

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity will be running a series of commentaries in the summer of 2012 on the fight to end childhood hunger in America.

This commentary is the ninth installment in the series, which is entitled “Ending Childhood Hunger in America.”

by Neil Nicoll, YMCA of the USA 

Betty Hood is a senior in Georgia trying to raise her two young grandchildren on a fixed income. Like nearly 50 million people across this country, she struggles to put food on the table. Before learning about a summer food program at the Tiftarea YMCA, Ms. Hood tearfully said there were days when she just didn’t know how she would make ends meet or be able to buy groceries to feed her grandchildren.

It is stories like Ms. Hood’s that underscore the urgency of addressing child hunger. More than 16 million U.S. children currently live in food insecure households, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). These families too often confront a painful choice—pay bills, provide shelter, or put food on the table. To address this increasing need, nonprofits, foundations, government, and corporations must work together to make sure more children have access to the safety net programs that can provide them with the food they need to thrive.

Read the full commentary online.