“While hunger was already a massive, systemic problem in all 50 states before Covid-19 hit the U.S., domestic hunger surged during the pandemic.” Joel Berg, Hunger Free America.
Nearly 40 million Americans struggled with food insecurity during 2020, about a 9% jump in hunger over 2019. A report (pdf) released by the United States Department of Agriculture on Wednesday also found “that the number of children in the U.S. suffering from hunger increased from 10.7 million in 2019 to 11.7 million last year, also an uptick of approximately 9%”.
“The new federal data tells us two things”, said Berg. “First, while hunger was already a massive, systemic problem in all 50 states before Covid-19 hit the U.S., domestic hunger surged during the pandemic”.
“Second, while tens of million of Americans suffered mightily from food hardship in 2020—and are still suffering mightily—the nation avoided mass starvation mostly because the federal government stepped in to dramatically increase food and cash aid,” Berg continued. “This safety net was a giant food life preserver”.
Stressing that “the pandemic is far from over,” Berg added that “we need that aid to continue, as a down payment on the even bigger investments needed to create jobs, raise wages, and ensure an adequate safety net so we can finally end hunger in America once and for all”.
The first and only conference on food insecurity took place 52 years ago
The Democratic heads of 25 House committees in a letter (pdf) sent to President Joe Biden last week, called on the White House “to convene a national conference on food, nutrition, hunger, and health that draws together all the arms of government, state and local leaders, tribal leaders, nonprofit and for-profit businesses, advocates, and those with lived experiences to design a roadmap to end hunger in America by 2030”.
In the meantime… What about ‘hunger’ today, tomorrow, and the next day? How about taking a few kids every day to that quite nicely stocked Capitol cafeteria, just until ’30 rolls around.
When election results on 6 November 2024 showed Donald Trump had won the Presidency, for me it was like getting punched in the face, repeatedly. I mean – repeatedly!
