Hunger in Clark County:

Map of Clark County

The United States Department of Agriculture defines hunger as "a circumstance where an individual goes without food for an intermittent or extended period of time." Perhaps of equal or even greater importance however, is another term describing hunger, the phrase "food insecurity." Food insecurity "is a condition where a family cannot be certain of satisfying all of the basic food needs for everyone under their roof." In other words, Mom and Dad don't have to skip meals so the kids can eat and children don't go to bed or school hungry. It can be very difficult to put a face on hunger and households that are food insecure; most people that find themselves in need of hunger relief are not proud of their situation and don't openly broadcast the fact that they are accessing emergency food in order to get by.

The best way to get a snapshot of who is hungry in our community is to look at a demographic profile that is developed from statistics compiled through periodic surveys conducted at our local agencies.

Of those who accessed emergency food in FY 2008:

  • 41% of adults were Employed
    (More than half of them full time!)
  • 23% were disabled
  • 14% were Retired
  • 37.5% were Children

A common key indicator of need is the number of emergency food boxes (EFB's) distributed during given time periods in comparison to the past. For several years leading up to 2008 25,000 area residents every month have relied on EFB's to help meet their food needs; a number that had stayed relatively flat. In 2008 90,000 EFB's were distributed by our local agencies. In addition, over 100,000 meals were served.

When other food resources are added in over 3 million pounds of food were distributed by Clark County Food Bank through our Stop Hunger Warehouse. Unfortunately much has changed since the end of our last fiscal year. The onset of 2009 brought with it a disturbing trend with people accessing emergency food at an alarmingly increasing rate:

  • Distribution of EFB's rose by 10% during July through September.
  • There was a 16% increase in food boxes distributed in October 2009 over October 2008.
  • Current estimates are that the overall increase in need since July of last year is around 20%.

Hunger is driven purely by economics and while there appear to promising signs that our recession is easing, those served by Clark County Food Bank will likely be the last to benefit from an improving economy. We anticipate that the need for hunger relief will continue to grow well into 2010 before it may begin to level out, if then. That makes it incumbent on Clark County Food Bank as an organization and YOU, our community supporters, to work even harder to "alleviate hunger and its root causes."

Thank you for your continued support!