Food insecurity is a real condition that can result from hunger. It can be defined in a variety of ways:
- You don’t know where your next meal is coming from
- You don’t know if you have enough food to provide three meals a day for your family
- You don’t have reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food
- You skip your dinner meal so that your children will have enough to eat
According to Feeding America’s landmark survey of clients in its Hunger in American Study 2014, many survive on limited budgets and need to decide between competing basic needs:
- 69 percent had to choose between paying for food and utilities
- 67 percent had to choose between food and transportation
- 66 percent had to choose between food and medical care
- 57 percent had to choose between food and housing
- 31 percent had to choose between food and education
The number of people in the United States and Massachusetts struggling with food insecurity is astounding:
- 1 in 8 people (42 million) may experience food insecurity in 2021 (Feeding America)
- 1 in 6 children (13 million) may struggle with hunger in 2021 (Feeding America)
- Food insecurity grew by 55% in Massachusetts from 2019 to 2020 (Greater Boston Food Bank)
- 30% of adults (1.6 million) in Massachusetts experienced food insecurity in late 2020 (Greater Boston Food Bank).
- 3 million seniors (7.3%) were food insecure in 2018 (State of Senior Hunger in American in 2018).
- 58% of Latinx adults in Massachusetts face food insecurity (45% for Blacks, 54% for Other/Multiracial families (Greater Boston Food Bank)
The impact of food insecurity includes:
- High levels of stress, anxiety and depression caused by worry over how to afford enough food
- Poor school performance and social interaction with peers by children who are hungry
- Increased challenges for seniors that may have a limited fixed income and are faced with growing health expenses, physical limitations and complex nutritional needs
- Increased consumption of high calorie or low nutrition foods since they are more affordable, resulting in long-term health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity
Click here to learn about hunger in Franklin.
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