Second Harvest Website------------------------------------------------------------
About National Hunger Awareness Day
National Hunger Awareness Day is an effort to raise awareness of—and donations to help end—hunger in America.
It was created in 2002, at a time when there was a significant increase in the number of Americans unable to feed their families. Hunger-relief organizations were forced to cope with this increased demand while working in an environment with less food surplus and fewer charitable dollars available.
Clearly this dramatic disparity between increased demand and decreased supply needed to be addressed. America’s Second Harvest and its network of more than 200 food banks and food-rescue organizations developed an aggressive plan to help meet their needs and those of hungry Americans. National Hunger Awareness Day was an important part of that plan.
The first National Hunger Awareness Day was held on June 5, 2002.
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Getting Involved in National Hunger Awareness Day
Who is involved in National Hunger Awareness Day?
America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest hunger-relief organization with a network of more than 200 food banks and food-rescue organizations, sponsor National Hunger Awareness Day. Many other individuals, groups and corporations, get involved in raising awareness and planning events across the U.S., making National Hunger Awareness Day a grassroots effort that will, hopefully, become a movement.
This year, America's Second Harvest is joined by a number of prominent organizations who are galvanizing their own membership to get involved and recognize this important day.
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About Hunger in America
How can there be hunger in one of the world's wealthiest nations?
Hunger in America looks different from hunger in other regions of the world, but it exists. Almost half of the people served by America's Second Harvest, for instance, live in households with at least one working adult, but these individuals must try to make ends meet on low wages that simply cannot cover mortgage or rent payments, the cost of prescriptions and medical care, utility bills, car payments and fuel costs, and food.
In today's economic climate, we're also seeing clients who - in years past - have been strong supporters and funders of our hunger-relief efforts. More than two million jobs have disappeared since the beginning of 2001, and millions of primary wage earners have been out of work so long that their unemployment benefits have been terminated.
For further and more complete information on this subject, you can get access statistics and fact sheets on the America's Second Harvest web site.
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How can there be hunger when there is also obesity?
Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, probably put it best when he said, "Hunger and obesity are often the flip sides of the same coin." Hunger and obesity both increase when families cannot afford to purchase the most nutritious food possible.
In many areas of the U.S., produce and other healthy foods are particularly expensive. When a family is living on a tight budget, junk food ("filler food") or fast food is usually easier and cheaper to buy than nutritious food. Some of the poorest children are also overweight; eating junk food is a way to fill up and, unfortunately, also put on empty pounds. This means that many poor people who look overfed are actually malnourished.
It is this aspect of childhood hunger - good nutrition - that is of great concern to us. In order to control the weight of children and improve their nutrition, it is important, for example, to have school meal programs that provide nutritious breakfasts and lunches to as many hungry students as possible.
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Just a little reminder to be grateful for the food you enjoy, and to give a little to those in need, if you can. Children, especially, should not have to go hungry in a country with so much wealth.
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