Stacy, what does the term “food insecurity” mean?
Food insecurity is what occurs when families lack the resources they need to get enough nutritious food to thrive. Each year, the Census Bureau and USDA measure the level of food insecurity and in 2008, we had 17 million households in this country who did not have regular access to enough food throughout the year. 2. Why can’t these families access enough food? Well, the main reason people don’t have enough food is because they don’t have enough money to buy food. This might be because their income is too low. Or, it might be that after they cover essential household expenses like rent or medicines that there just isn’t enough money to buy food for the whole family. 3. How has the Food Stamp Program affected food insecurity? Food stamps have absolutely lessened the severity of hunger in America. It accomplishes this by helping low-income Americans to afford a nutritionally adequate diet. As of October 38 million Americans, or 1 in 8 in our country, were participating in this program. 4
