Hungry for More?

In Greenville County

60,000 people do not know where one or more of their meals will come from today ¹
16.2% of children ages 5 to 18 live in the Greenville County schools live in poverty ²
Free and reduced meal participation is at 46.6% for elementary schools, 44.5% for middle schools and 32.6% for high schools ⁸
15.3% of 18 to 24 year olds have not completed high school ³
26.4% of 8th graders are not enrolled in 12th grade four years later ³
10.1% of babies are low birth weight babies ³
36.3% of children receiving subsidized meals rate "below basic” on the English/Language Arts PACT test ⁸

Hunger either contributes to these conditions or these conditions are a result of food insufficiency. Poverty and hunger are perpetuated by lack of adequate income to support oneself and one’s family.

In South Carolina

15% of South Carolinians are "food insecure" ⁴
The average monthly food stamp benefit in South Carolina is $91.93 per
person. Food stamp benefits typically cover 2.5 weeks of food per month.4
Infant mortality is 8.3 deaths per 10,000 ³

Nationally

¼ of the food prepared, nearly 96 billion pounds, is wasted ⁵
96 billion pounds per person represents 189.9 pounds per citizen in the U.S. ⁵
If only 5% of the discarded food could be recovered, it would feed 14 million people ⁶
35 million people, including 13 million kids, are food “insecure” – that is, they are uncertain where one or more of their daily meals will come from ⁷

1 Estimate using centeronhunger.org food insecurity rates and estimated Greenville County population
2 South Carolina Department of Social Services Family Independence Program

3 The Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Report 2006
4 Food Research and Action Council - frac.org

5 US Environmental Protection Agency estimate
6 America’s Second Harvest website
7 Economic Research Services, US Department of Agriculture
8 Greenville County Schools website - statistics