1.4 million people in Oklahoma don’t know where there next meal is coming from—or if they might even get one. 

That astonishing statistic was included in the report released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture titled “Food Security in the United States, 2008.”  It’s hard to believe that 14% of the people who live in Oklahoma, Feed The Children’s own backyard, are struggling with hunger.  Frankly, it’s hard to believe that anyone in America, our land of plenty, has to struggle with hunger at all.

That why Feed The Children exists, however: to correct the injustice of hunger in America and abroad.  Last year, Feed The Children distributed 133 million pounds of food and other essentials to children and families in all 50 states and in 34 foreign countries, supplementing more than 760,000 meals a day.  Our work everywhere is important, but on the heels of news that food insecurity in America has reached record levels, it’s important to remember that charity begins at home.

Feed The Children’s Americans Feeding Americans Emergency Caravan™ made stops in Oklahoma on November 19.  With 14 tractor-trailers loaded with food and personal care items, Feed The Children was able to help 5,600 families in need at 14 locations around the state.  This is the tenth Americans Feeding Americans Emergency Caravan™ food distribution tour; in other stops we’ve been able to help struggling Americans in places like Wilmington, Ohio, Elkhart, Indiana and Greenville, Mississippi.  Every time we make a stop, we’re making a difference in the lives of people who need help.

This week, global leaders convened for the World Summit on Food Security held at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) headquarters in Rome.  They met to discuss the global hunger crisis and the effects high food costs, climate change, and agriculture have on food insecurity.  On Monday, the attendees unanimously adopted the Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security, which recommitted United Nations members to the cause of eliminating hunger from our planet. 

In 2000, the United Nations established a series of goals to ease global suffering in a variety of forms.  There are eight goals with twenty-one targets that comprise the Millennium Development Goals, including promoting health, education, and gender equality worldwide. 

Goal One: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.  There can be no peace, no justice, and no equality if people do not have the food they need to live and thrive.  Ertharin Cousin, United States Ambassador to the FAO said, “For the first time, instead of setting wishful goals, we acknowledge that there is a goal that exists and affirm a plan to reaching that existing goal.”

Feed The Children is proud to be a part of the solution to ending food insecurity around the world.

Yesterday, the United States Department of Agriculture released its new report, “Food Security in the United States, 2008,” which shows that 49 million Americans are hungry or at risk of hunger, including nearly 17 million children. These numbers represent huge increases over the previous year–and yet they don’t reflect the full effect of the economic downturn, much of which has occurred in recent months.

The number of children in food insecure households jumped 34% in 2008 to nearly 16.7 million children. The report shows that households with children had nearly twice the rate of food insecurity, 21%, as those without children, 11.3%. Additionally, 12 million adults and 5 million children lived in households with very low food security, meaning that people in the household reduced their food intake or skipped meals because there wasn’t enough money for food. Although adults in the household typically adjust their eating patterns to shield children from hunger, in 2008, 1.1 million children still went without food at some point during the year.

Feed The Children’s Americans Feeding Americans Emergency Caravan™ has provided over 29,000 hurting families across America with nutritious food and personal care items so far. Now more than ever, it’s important to keep our Americans Feeding Americans Emergency Caravan™ on the road.