of Northwest North Carolina
3655 Reed Street
Winston-Salem, NC27107
Media Contact:
Tammy Caudill, Marketing Manager
Phone: (336) 784-5770
Mobile: (336) 978.5388
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New study reveals 29.2% of children in
Northwest North Carolina are food insecure.
Winston-Salem, NC August 25, 2011. A new Feeding America study reveals that children are struggling with hunger in every county of every state in the United States. Nationally, while one in six Americans overall is food insecure, the rate for children is much higher: food insecurity affects nearly one in four children. The rate of food insecurity for children in Northwest North Carolina counties is even higher, averaging 29.2% of the children in each county. “Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2011” premiered on ABC Television’s, “Hunger at Home: Crisis in America” series on Thursday, August 24.
“The prevalence and consequences of our nation’s child food insecurity problem are well documented, but our efforts to adequately address the problem have been hindered by a lack of data at the local level,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America. “This new information addresses this need by providing
first-ever data about the prevalence of child food insecurity (CFI) at the county and congressional district level.”
“This study is a groundbreaking tool because it provides critical information for developing strategies to alleviate child hunger. For example, households living above 185% of the federal poverty line typically are not eligible
for federal child nutrition programs like reduced-price school meals and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC),” Escarra said. “These children have few options for obtaining food assistance outside of Feeding America food banks or other charitable food programs.”
“This new Feeding America study on child food insecurity is very important. It’s also consistent with data contained in other related reports, including the recently released Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) study regarding the pervasive and serious problem of childhood hunger in Northwest North Carolina”, said Clyde Fitzgerald, Executive Director of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, this region’s Feeding America food bank. “In the FRAC study, the Winston-Salem metropolitan statistical area ranked worst in the country for metropolitan areas regarding the percentage of households with children that suffer food insecurity”, added Fitzgerald.
However, unlike the FRAC study which reported on Metropolitan Statistical Areas, this new Feeding America report is an in-depth analysis of census data on a county-by-county basis for the entire country. The FRAC study measured the percentage of households with children in metropolitan areas that suffer food hardship. The Feeding America study portrays the percentage of children in each county that are food insecure. “The conclusions are the same – child hunger is an urgent and growing problem throughout this region. However, these two studies are not an “apples to apples” comparison,” Fitzgerald said.
“Based on the Feeding America study, nationally, the percentage of food-insecure children in each of America’s counties averages 23.3%. This number increases to 27.3% for the state of North Carolina (ranking North Carolina 10th among all statesnationally, the same as in the recent FRAC study). Our 18-county service area, with a 29.2 % average, unfortunately, continues to reflect a higher percentage of children who are food insecure on a county-by-county basis than both the state and national averages. All 18 of the counties in our service area exceed the national rate and 15 of these counties also exceed the state rate. AlleghanyCounty, part our service area, has the highest percentage of food insecure children of any county in North Carolina with 39.6%,” Fitzgerald said.
“The need for food assistance across our service area has increased over 100% since 2008. Through the generosity of the community-at-large and our retail grocery partners, Second Harvest Food Bank of NWNC has been able to double the amount of food we distribute in just the past two years, but the need remains great. No one should be hungry and certainly not a child,” stated Fitzgerald.
“Combating childhood hunger is a top priority for our food bank,” Fitzgerald said. “Our core food distribution program serves about 100,000 children. In just two years, we’ve also increased the number of Kids Café programs from 7 to 15 and increased the number of BackPack program sites from 7 to 59. We have implemented summer feeding programs that, this summer alone, provided over 7,000 children with nutritious food while school was not in session”, he added. “We are disappointed by the results of both of these recent studies but we’re not surprised because we see this sad reality every day in our work. Children – our most precious asset – are suffering from hunger. If these children are hungry, then it’s likely that their parents are as well. This situation is simply unacceptable. Hunger in Northwest North Carolina, especially child hunger, is a solvable problem and we must all work together to be part of the solution,” concluded Fitzgerald.
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About Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC
Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina is a member of Feeding America. It is the major distributor of donated food and grocery products in the region, collecting and distributing products to 339 nonprofit partner agencies that through 434 programs annually feed thousands of people in need throughout 18 counties (Alamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Caldwell, Caswell, Davie, Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford, Iredell, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin). Since opening in 1982, Second Harvest Food Bank has distributed more than 143 million pounds of food and grocery products. Second Harvest Food Bank receives donations from national donors through Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest); local food manufacturers and distributors; local grocery stores, caterers and restaurants; USDA commodity programs; a State Nutrition Assistance Program grant, and community food drives. It is also a member of United Way of ForsythCounty. To learn more, please visit
About Feeding America (Formerly America’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network)
Feeding America is the largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through its network of more than 200 member food banks, Feeding America annually provides assistance to more than 37 million people in need, including more than 14 million children and nearly 3 million seniors in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each year, Feeding America secures and distributes more than 2.5 billion pounds of food and grocery products to support feeding programs at approximately 70,000 local charitable agencies, including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs, and Kids Cafes. To learn more, please visit
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