WaPo has breaking news of a just-released USDA report stating:
The number of Americans who lack dependable access to adequate food shot up last year to 49 million, the largest number since the government has been keeping track...
Here's the full USDA report: PDF
More below:
The report shows "particularly steep increases in food scarcity among families with children".
Among people of of all ages, nearly 15 percent last year did not consistently have adequate food, compared with about 11 percent in 2007, the greatest deterioration in access to food during a single year in the history of the report.
During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama made a pledge to eliminate hunger among children by 2015. It appears that this report was commissioned by Obama administration to gauge just how bad the problem really is...well it's bad.
Last year, people in 4.8 million households used private food pantries, compared to 3.9 million in 2007, while people in about 625,000 households resorted to soup kitchens, nearly 90,000 more than the year before. Food shortages, the report shows, are particularly pronounced among women raising children alone.
I'll be interested to see what the Republicans have to say...on second thought, no I won't.
It's bad people. I plan on doing what I can...how about you?
http://feedingamerica.org/...
Apologies for the truncated diary but I've got a grant due today and I'm way behind.
Peace