Food Insecurity in Maine and throughout the Nation...
Growing at Alarming Rate
New Statistics Confirm Escalating Hunger Crisis
In the wake of the recent economic crisis more people are hungry than ever before. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported on November 17 that 49 million Americans, including nearly 17 million children are food insecure. This is an increase of 36 percent over last year.
Many Mainers have been hard hit by the recession. Good Shepherd Food-Bank estimates that over 175,000 Mainers or 13.3 percent of the population is food insecure. The number of Mainers that are food insecure has increased by more than 15 percent over the past two years. 19.5 percent of Maine children under age 18 are food insecure. 18.8 percent of Maine children under the age of 5 are food insecure.
In fiscal year 2009, the Food-Bank distributed nearly 12 million pounds of food throughout Maine. Recent studies indicate that over 37 million pounds of food or more than 29 million meals would need to be distributed throughout Maine each year to feed everyone who is food insecure.
The county with the largest food need is Cumberland, with an estimated need of over 6.2 million pounds of food per year. Over the past year, the Food-Bank has distributed 1,275,883 pounds of food to agencies in Cumberland County. Other counties with the highest need for food include Penobscot, York, Kennebec and Androscoggin. Click to view the “Need vs. Distribution” graph.
The Food-Bank has increased its distribution of food to all 16 counties, with the exception of Androscoggin, this past year. Piscataquis County has seen the largest increase in distribution of 128 percent. The overall increase in distribution throughout the state is 23 percent. Click to view complete list of distribution of pounds of food by county.
