February 16, 2000
Texas leads nation in percentage of families with hunger
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___Texas leads the nation in the percentage of families living in hunger, according to the annual report of Bread for the World released Feb. 10.
___Five percent of Texas households lived with true hunger between 1996 and 1998, according to the report. That's not only above the national average of 3.5 percent, it's the highest percentage of any state in the nation.
___In addition, another 12.9 percent of Texas households were "food insecure" during thatperiod, meaning the family could not always afford the food they needed, leading to lower-quality diets or adults skipping meals in order to feed their children.
___The combined 18 percent of the Texas population living in hunger or on the edge of hunger represents about 3.6 million people.
___While massive strides are being made against global hunger, the United States still lags behind in its response, according to the Christian-based advocacy group. The United States is the only industrialized country with widespread hunger, the agency reports.
___"As much as we'd like to think ours is a generous society, the fact is the richest country in the world does less than any other developed nation to combat pervasive hunger," said David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.
___Although Americans often associate hunger with images of famine and war in other parts of the world, hunger is a pervasive, if unseen, problem at home.
___"In the United States, hunger does not manifest itself dramatically like famine and starvation," Beckmann said. "The face of hunger is much different in our country than it is overseas."
___A major source of current hunger problems in America can be traced to the intended and unintended effects of welfare reform, according to the Bread for the World report. In the last five years, 9 million people nationwide have been dropped off the Food Stamp program.
___"This may be the biggest single reason that hunger did not decline despite falling unemployment," the report states.
___Cutting America's hunger problem in half would be relatively easy, Bread for the World contends.
___"Once the federal government decides to act, it would take only a couple of years to cut hunger in half simply by strengthening existing nutrition programs," the report contends. "The most important of these programs are the Food Stamp program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children and the school breakfast and lunch programs.
___Bread for the World and other groups are asking Congress this year to strengthen the Food Stamp program by passing the Hunger Relief Act. This legislation would make more people eligible for food stamps by changing rules that keep some hungry families from getting help and by re-establishing eligibility for legal immigrants.
___Bread for the World also advocates a $1 increase in the minimum wage over the next two years.
___"A person working full-time at minimum wage earns only $10,700 per year, which is $5,960 below the 1998 poverty level for a family of four," the report explains.
___Outside the United States, hunger remains a serious and life-threatening concern, the report also says. But significant progress is being made.
___"Right now, one person in five suffers from persistent hunger worldwide, compared to one in three 25 years ago," it explains.
___The "absolute worst conditions" are found in sub-Saharan African, where one out of every three people is hungry or undernourished, the report says. But the largest number of people suffering from hunger are in South Asia.
___Bread for the World contends the problem of hunger worldwide could be drastically reduced by spending an additional $5 billion annually in the United States and $1 billion annually internationally. In comparison, the report notes, the U.S. government spent more than $8 billion to avert the Y2K computer crisis, while more than $500 billion was spent worldwide to ensure the millennial passage of computer systems.
___For more details on Bread for the World's annual report, visit their website at www.bread.org.
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