Report: One in eight R.I. households lacks adequate food

RHODE ISLAND Community Food Bank said in its annual report that the number of people it serves has nearly doubled since 2007. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK
RHODE ISLAND Community Food Bank said in its annual report that the number of people it serves has nearly doubled since 2007. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK

Updated 2:30 p.m.
PROVIDENCE – Despite recent signs of an improved economy, one in eight Rhode Island households lacks adequate food, according to the 2015 Status Report on Hunger in Rhode Island from the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.
The food bank also stated in the report, which was released Monday, that it serves approximately 60,000 people each month, an increase from the 33,0000 people a month it served in 2007, before the recession.
Approximately 54,000 Rhode Island households – 12.7 percent – were food insecure from 2012 to 2014, meaning they did not have the resources to purchase adequate food, the food bank said. Of those households, 20,000 reported the most severe conditions associated with hunger, the report said.
It also said that food insecure families often have to choose between paying the rent and buying food, adding that U.S. Census Bureau estimates state that 41,000 Rhode Island children live in poverty.
The Ocean State, with one in five children living in poverty, has the highest rate in New England, the report stated. It states that children living in food insecure households are more likely to be in poor health and hospitalized than children in homes with adequate food.

Other report findings:

  • A total of 50,870 children receive free or reduced-price lunch at school; 31,770 also participate in the school breakfast program.
  • Twenty percent of those served by member agencies of the Food Bank are 60 or older with approximately 12,000 seniors receiving food assistance each month.

“Hunger has severe consequences for children and seniors. Poor nutrition leads to poor health and undermines the investment that Rhode Island has made in improving health care. Fortunately, we know how to solve the problem of hunger. We can begin by making better use of programs that protect children and seniors from hunger,” Andrew Schiff, CEO of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, said.
Solutions to the hunger problem, according to the food bank, include allocating additional state funds to the food bank to meet the continued high demand for food assistance, raise the state earned income tax credit to boost incomes of working families, offer free school breakfast and lunch to all students in high-poverty communities, increase SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) benefit levels to keep up with the rising cost of food, and advocate for Congress to reauthorize child nutrition programs that provide healthy, nutritious food to low-income children and families.

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