Hunger in America

The best adjective to accurately describe the amount of food available in the United States is abundant. Hunger affects 1 out of every 8 American men, women and children and persists in this country not because of a lack of food, but because we lack the political will to end the problem by ensuring that vulnerable people have equal access to nutritious food.

Charitable organizations — including many of MAZON’s partners  — are not set up to feed every hungry person in their community. Food pantries and soup kitchens were created to provide support during temporary or emergency situations, not to solve systemic problems. Many are open only a few days a week and for a few hours of each day. They are largely run by volunteers, often out of basements or closets at their local houses of worship, and they primarily distribute food that has been donated from within their communities. They simply do not have the capacity to feed the number of people who need help.

As our country begins to recover from the COVID-19 health and economic crises, it is critical that we strengthen and expand federal nutrition assistance programs like SNAP, which provide a vital lifeline that helps people receive the sustenance they need to get back on their feet. The average benefit provided by SNAP equates to roughly $1.80 per person per meal, which is hardly enough to survive.

A growing body of research shows a startling correlation between obesity and hunger. The simple fact is this: people living in poverty cannot afford enough food, and often, what little food they can afford — or what is available in their community — is unhealthy and processed, with low nutritional value. They also tend to have higher levels of stress and reduced opportunities for physical activity. It is the convergence of all these factors that has exacerbated the obesity epidemic among those who are, in fact, hungry.

The Department of Defense neither tracks the number of military households that struggle with food insecurity nor acknowledges that such a problem exists. And yet, we know that food pantries operate on or near every military base in this country, quietly providing assistance for currently-serving military families in need of food. Furthermore, many military families are shut out of accessing SNAP and other food assistance programs. Learn more.

An estimated 1 out of 7 seniors lives in poverty and 5.4 million seniors struggle with food insecurity in the United States today. Despite this harsh reality, about 60% of seniors who are eligible for support from government programs such as SNAP do not receive these vital benefits. Multiple challenges stand in their way, including lack of awareness of program eligibility, a complicated and seemingly intrusive application process, social and geographic isolation, and fear of stigma from needing help.

SNAP has one of the most rigorous quality control systems of any public benefit program. States must conduct regular “quality control” reviews of SNAP case files to ensure that benefits are accurately distributed. And ongoing improvements to regulate the program have kept fraud and abuse to a historic low of less than 2%.

There is no doubt that hungry people would rather not be hungry and may try to do everything they can to avoid it in the future. Oftentimes, that same hunger also hinders their ability to take such action. Being hungry can be all-consuming and distracting, which in turn decreases productivity in working adults and negatively impacts people’s ability to get jobs. And for children, chronic hunger has devastating effects, impacting their physical development and making it nearly impossible to learn. In both the short and long term, having a substantial population of hungry people — adults or children — impedes the country’s economic prosperity for everyone.