Bread For The World

The Problem of Childhood Hunger
         More than 36 million Americans face a daily struggle against hunger. While hunger affects people of all ages, it is particularly devastating for more than 12 million children. Even short-term episodes of hunger can cause lasting damage to a child's development. Hunger puts children at risk for a range of cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and physical problems. One in every six American children experiences hunger each year -- and as a result is more likely to exhibit decreased attention span and lower test scores; display aggression, tardiness, and absenteeism; suffer anxiety and depression; and become sick or be hospitalized.
         We have the tools to end child hunger in our country. Strengthening child nutrition programs is an immediate and direct way to reduce child hunger and improve health and educational outcomes. Programs like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); school breakfast and lunch programs; and preschool, summer and after-school meal programs are vital in providing children the food they need for healthy development. Unfortunately, child nutrition programs do not reach all children in need of food. Currently 10 million eligible children do not receive breakfast and 16 million do not get summer meals. Many eligible children lack access to programs or face other barriers to participation, whether it's because a program is not offered in their community, transportation is limited, or eligibility provisions lack coordination with other agencies. Child nutrition programs could do far more to reduce hunger simply by reaching more kids.
    * There are 101,000 schools operating the National School Lunch Program, but only 85,000 operating the School Breakfast Program.
    * Only 32,700 Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sites operate nationwide.
    * Of the more than 18 million children receiving free or reduced-price lunches each school day, only 46 percent receive breakfast, and just 12 percent receive summer food.
         Child nutrition programs are only effective when they reach the children who need food. The top priority for child nutrition reauthorization must be to increase program access and participation among eligible, low-income children. Congress is scheduled to reauthorize child nutrition programs in 2009. The first step in the process is to secure significant new investments for child nutrition programs. Without adequate funding, authorizing committees will be unable to make necessary improvements to these programs, leaving millions of children without access to needed food.
         The next step is for the Senate Agriculture Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee to write legislation. Before they draft the bill, the committees will hold hearings and receive input from stakeholders, including anti-hunger advocates. You can influence the 2009 child nutrition and WIC reauthorization by writing your members of Congress and urging them to close the hunger gap, especially at breakfast and in the summer. Significant new investments are needed to increase program access and participation for eligible children. With your help, strong reauthorized programs can put us on track to achieving the President's goal of ending child hunger by 2015.

Sen. Richard Lugar                                     Sen. Evan Bayh                                              Rep. Mike Pence
306 Hart Senate Office Bldg.                 131 Russell Senate Office Bldg.                            1605 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20510                            Washington, DC 20510                                    Washington, DC 20515
202-224-4814                                         202-224-5623                                                       202-225-3021 senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov           senator_bayh@bayh.senate.gov             mike.pence@mail.house.gov

Sample Letter

Dear Sen._______ / Rep. Pence,

I am writing to ask you to help make increased access and participation the top priority as Congress reauthorizes child nutrition programs this year. Where I live in Randolph County, there is no summer feeding program because the outdated statistics upon which eligibility is based were a fraction of one percent too high. By the time summer got here, the economy had weakened enough that my community could easily have qualified.

According to Bread for the World, one-sixth of all American children experience serious hunger each year. Over 18 million kids from low-income homes receive free or subsidized school lunches, but only 12% of them (2.2 million) participate in summer lunch programs. Especially in the current economic crisis, updated child nutrition legislation should increase the number of breakfast, summer, and after-school feeding sites so that more eligible children can be served. Since so few children have a summer food program in their community, Congress should explore other models for feeding kids during the summer.

I ask that you help Congress to encourage states to work toward the goal of ending child hunger by 2015 by rewarding states that successfully increase nutrition program access and participation. Please advise me of how you will help this year to lower the number of hungry kids in Indiana and across the nation.

Sincerely,

Bread for the World's 2009 Offering of Letters urges Congress to rework US foreign assistance to make it more effective in reducing poverty, hunger, and disease. While the world has changed dramatically in the last 50 years, the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act still drives how we deliver foreign aid through programs that are scattered across 12 departments, 25 agencies, and nearly 60 government offices. A more efficient system – better coordinated, more accountable, with greater clarity – could ensure that poor people receive help more effectively.

1.02 billion people -- one sixth of humanity -- undernourished, more than ever before

19 June 2009, Rome - World hunger is projected to reach a historic high in 2009 with 1.020 billion people going hungry every day, according to estimates published by the UN's Food & Agriculture Organization today. The most recent increase in hunger is not the consequence of poor global harvests, but of the world economic crisis that has resulted in lower incomes, increased unemployment, and reduced access to food by the poor.
        "A dangerous mix of the global economic slowdown combined with stubbornly high food prices in many countries has pushed some 100 million more people than last year into chronic hunger and poverty," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf. "The silent hunger crisis — affecting one sixth of all of humanity — poses a serious risk for world peace and security. We urgently need to forge a broad consensus on the total and rapid eradication of hunger in the world and to take the necessary actions. Poor countries must be given the development, economic and policy tools required to boost their agricultural production and productivity. Investment in agriculture must be increased because for poor countries, a healthy agricultural sector is essential to overcome poverty and hunger and is a prerequisite for overall economic growth."
         Whereas good progress was made in reducing chronic hunger in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, hunger has been slowly but steadily on the rise for the past decade, FAO said. The number of hungry people increased between 1995-97 and 2004-06 in all regions except Latin America and the Caribbean. But even in this region, gains in hunger reduction have been reversed as a result of high food prices and the current global economic downturn. This year, mainly due to the shocks of the economic crisis combined with often high national food prices, the number of hungry people is expected to grow overall by about 11 percent, based on analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
        Almost all of the world's undernourished live in developing countries. In Asia and the Pacific, an estimated 642 million people are suffering from chronic hunger; in Sub-Saharan Africa 265 million; in Latin America and the Caribbean 53 million; in the Near East and North Africa 42 million; and in developed countries 15 million in total.
         The urban poor will probably face the most severe problems in coping with the global recession, because lower export demand and reduced foreign direct investment are more likely to hit urban jobs harder. But rural areas will not be spared. Millions of urban migrants will have to return to the countryside, forcing the rural poor to share the burden.
         Some developing countries are also struggling with the fact that money transfers (remittances) sent from migrants back home have declined substantially this year, causing the loss of foreign exchange and household income. Reduced remittances and a projected decline in official development assistance will further limit the ability of countries to access capital for sustaining production and creating safety nets and social protection schemes for the poor.
         Unlike previous crises, developing countries have less room to adjust to the deteriorating economic conditions, because the turmoil is affecting practically all parts of the world more or less simultaneously. The scope for remedial mechanisms, including exchange-rate depreciation and borrowing from international capital markets for example, to adjust to macroeconomic shocks, is more limited in a global crisis.
         The economic crisis also comes on the heel of the food and fuel crisis of 2006-08. While food prices in world markets declined over the past months, domestic prices in developing countries came down more slowly. They remained on average 24 percent higher in real terms by the end of 2008 compared to 2006. For poor consumers, who spend up to 60 percent of their incomes on staple foods, this means a strong reduction in their effective purchasing power. It should also be noted that while they declined, international food commodity prices are still 24 percent higher than in 2006 and 33 percent higher than in 2005.