239 Truckloads of Food Still Needed to Stock Food Banks; Ward Off Potential Nationwide Crisis This Holiday Season

CHICAGO --- December 17, 2007 --- On Thanksgiving Day, America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network, issued an urgent call for support, projecting an immediate food shortage of 15 million pounds – the equivalent of more than 400 truckloads or 11.7 million meals – by the end of the year. To date, America’s Second Harvest has received about 40 percent of its goal, the equivalent of 161 truckloads, but there still is a long way to go to meet the needs of hungry Americans over the holiday and into the next year.

“The demand for help is unprecedented. Food banks across the country are being forced to give people less and, worse, even turn people away as they run out of food,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of America’s Second Harvest. “We are tremendously grateful to those who have already responded to our call for support. However, it is critical that we secure another 239 truckloads of food before December 31, 2007. We are urging corporations, organizations and others to please step up if they can, dig a little deeper, and help us help the increasing numbers of people who rely on our food banks to stock their own bare shelves.”

In November, the United States Department of Agriculture released its annual study of hunger in America indicating the number of people living at the margins of hunger, has increased from 35.1 to more than 35.5 million, including 12.6 million children. Today, the US Conference of Mayors released its Sodexho Hunger and Homelessness Survey 2007 finding that more families are seeking aid from emergency food distribution centers, particularly in urban areas.

From Oregon to Vermont, America’s Second Harvest is responding to an unprecedented need for support from families struggling to make ends meet. The ailing economy and rising food and fuel prices are taking their toll and families are facing tough choices, such as whether to pay to heat their homes or buy groceries. Many Second Harvest member food banks and food-rescue organizations are seeing an increase in demand, as high as 20 percent.

At the same time, inventories are at devastatingly low levels and Second Harvest’s nationwide network of more than 200 food banks and the thousands of food service agencies they support are struggling to feed those arriving at their doors. The food bank shortages being experienced nationwide are largely due to dramatic declines in food aid from surplus commodity purchases by the federal government. This has occurred because a healthy farm economy has required less intervention in order to support prices. The Farm Bill, which just passed the Senate on Friday, authorizes funding for nutrition and food assistance programs for low-income families. Quickly enacting this new Farm Bill would strengthen a long-term successful partnership between food banks and the USDA, and provide much needed food for those most in need throughout the nation.
 
“Right now, to get through the holidays, we need help from corporate and individual donors to replenish empty food bank shelves,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of America’s Second Harvest. “When enacted, a new Farm Bill will provide critical long-term support for food banks. However, we are immediately concerned that if we cannot fill this gap now, people will go hungry.”

What you can do:

The best way to assist in this campaign is to make a financial donation to America's Second Harvest.  Your donation will help secure and distribute food that will benefit food banks and their agencies in need. Help give struggling families a reason to be hopeful this holiday season.  Call 800.344.8070 or visit www.secondharvest.org to give a gift today.

You can also help move toward a more long-term solution by supporting the need for a strong Farm Bill by visiting the Hunger Action Center at www.hungeractioncenter.org.

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America's Second Harvest — The Nation's Food Bank Network is the largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through its network of more than 200 member food banks, America's Second Harvest annually provides assistance to more than 25 million people in need, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each year, America's Second Harvest secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of food and grocery products to support feeding programs at approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies, including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs, and Kids Cafes. To learn more, please visit www.secondharvest.org.

Contact:
Ross Fraser
312-641-6422