Hunger Happens in the Summer too!
What is the difference between hunger and food insecurity?
Food insecurity is defined as “having limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate food and limited or uncertain ability to acquire suitable foods in socially acceptable ways.”
Please consider helping us provide nutritionally beneficial food all year round to those who face food insecurity in Randolph County, Indiana. This is our only appeal this year as a reminder financial contributions are welcome (and tax deductible) in the summer as well as at Christmas.
Winchester Area Churches and Community Food Pantry
Mailing address: 124 E. Washington Street, Winchester, IN 47394
E-mail address: waccfp@gmail.com
https://waccfp.wixsite.com/dietitian
For the first half of 2019, WACCFP served 1,861 households (down 100 households from the first half of 2018) with 6,073 individuals (down around 500 individuals from the first half of 2018).
Food insecurity in Indiana is down slightly according to an annual report from FEEDING AMERICA but Hoosiers are still more likely to face hunger than the national average. Statewide, 13.3 percent of Hoosiers are food insecure. For children that number goes up to 17.4 percent in this year’s Map the Meal Gap findings. Every county in Indiana faces the problem. Executive director of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry, Emily Weikert Bryant says although the number is down a bit, "It still isn’t reflective of what you’d expect with the economy and the unemployment numbers that we have." The data shows just more than one-third of food insecure people make just enough money and are ineligible for federal food assistance programs like SNAP.”
What is the difference between hunger and food insecurity? Food insecurity is defined as having limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate food and limited or uncertain ability to acquire suitable foods in socially acceptable ways.
So, is food insecurity the same as hunger? While the two terms are related, they don't mean the same thing. Hunger refers to a personal, physical sensation of discomfort caused by a lack of food, while food insecurity refers to a lack of available financial resources for food at the level of the household. All of us have experienced hunger, but not all of us have experienced food insecurity.
These 6,073 individuals through the door of the Shalom Center were given 22 pounds of food on each visit to the pantry this year. The pantry spent $29,126 in purchasing food from Aldi and Second Harvest (this is down by $6,000 from the previous year.) Income from individuals, churches, businesses, Community Foundation, and FEMA for the first half of the year was $20,148.
"Four in 10 American adults wouldn’t be able to cover an unexpected $400 expense with cash, savings or a credit-card charge that could be quickly paid off, a new Federal Reserve survey finds.
"About 27 percent of people surveyed would need to borrow or sell something to pay for such a bill, and 12 percent would not be able to cover it at all, according to the Fed’s 2018 report on the economic well-being of households.
"The share that could cover such an expense more easily has been climbing steadily and now stands at 61 percent, up from just half when the Fed started this annual survey in 2013. Still, the finding underlines the fact that many Americans remain on the edge financially even as this economic expansion is approaching record length and people have become more optimistic. " Jeanna Smialek – The New York Times