By Peter Krouse, The Plain Dealer
Most of us always know where our next meal is coming from, but more than 2 million people in Ohio don't.
That's according to a study released Friday by Feeding America that indicates hunger is on the rise across the state.
Feeding America is a hunger-relief organization that includes the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks. Its research shows the number of people in Ohio categorized as "food insecure" rose to 2,083,240, or 18.1 percent of the population in 2010, compared to 17.1 percent the previous year.
Nationally, the rate remained relatively stable at 16.1 percent. (See the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks news release in the DocumentCloud viewer below)
People are classified as "food insecure" based on responses to a federal survey, said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director for the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks. Her group has 12 foodbanks and more than 3,300 charities across the state that include food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters.
Survey questions determined such things as how long somebody has gone without food, whether meal portions have had to be reduced and if children had ever been sent to bed hungry, Hamler-Fugitt said.
Someone who is classified as "food insecure" does not have to be impoverished or even receiving government aid such as food stamps, she said...
Read more:
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/04/hunger_on_the_rise_in_ohio.html
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