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The best preventative health tool is an adequate amount of nutritious food. For people living in poverty, empty cupboards and bare refrigerators are a part of everyday life. This chronic lack of food, combined with a lack of nutrition education and the stress of living in poverty, has kept many of our neighbors in poor health. In northern Nevada, 66% of households that received food assistance have gone entire days without eating because there was not enough money to buy food. Many report having to choose between buying food and paying for utilities or rent.
Nutritious food is critical for combating hunger. Yet for those who are the working poor, a lack of food can be an everyday occurrence. Here in Nevada, many of our neighbors are in poor health because of skipped meals or living on cheaper food. In our region, 66% of households that received food assistance have gone entire days without eating because there was not enough money to buy food. We believe that knowledge of the situation can bring a stop to this cycle of food insecurity.
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Food insecurity can be categorized as either chronic or transitory. In our country, 1 in 6 americans struggle with hunger. Many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are confined to small pockets of society, certain areas of the country, or neighborhoods, but hunger cuts across cultural, regional and ethnic lines.
The problem of childhood hunger is not simply a moral issue. Child hunger hampers a young person's ability to learn and becomes more likely to suffer from poverty as an adult. Scientific evidence suggests that hungry children are less likely to become productive citizens. Recent studies reveal that 18.5 percent of Nevada children are food insecure. In addition, 17.8 percent of the children 5 years or younger are food insecure.
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