Joe Molieri/Bread for the World
Stanley Glenn, a single
father raising a daughter
in Philadelphia, has been
using SNAP/food stamps
since he became disabled
in 2006 and could no
longer work.
12?Introduction
Some people are more vulnerable to hunger than others. One in three families with an
adult who is unable to work because of a disability worries about running out of food each
month.2 Stanley Glenn, for example, is a 53-year-old single father raising his 14-year-old
daughter in Philadelphia. Stanley suffered a stroke and has not been able to work for 7 years.
He and his daughter get by on Social Security disability benefits and SNAP/food stamps.
Before the stroke, he worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. It took
a toll on his health; after the stroke, he also learned that he is diabetic
and has a heart condition. “I just pushed myself too hard,” Stanley
says. “It’s not like I don’t want to work, I would love to go back to
work, but every time I try to go back my body says no.”
In the United States, one of the most significant risk factors for
hunger is being a child; children experience the highest hunger rates
of any age group.3 In our most recent
Hunger Reports, Bread for the World
“I would love to go
Institute has drawn attention to the
lifelong effects of hunger on young chilback to work, but
dren, particularly during the 1,000-day
every time I try to
window between pregnancy and age 2.
go back my body
New research provides incontrovertsays no.”
ible evidence that this is the period in
— Stanley Glenn
human development when hunger has
the most damaging impact. The risks
continue to be serious long after age 2, but making sure good nutrition is available to mother and child—and that neither goes hungry
during this period—is imperative.
African Americans and Hispanics experience higher rates of
hunger than whites, but there are many more whites who are hungry.4
See Figure i.2. Women experience higher rates of hunger than men,
especially among seniors, and people with disabilities experience
hunger at two to three times the rate of people without disabilities.5
The suffering that hunger causes individuals is a tragedy. But
there are consequences for the nation as well. In 2011, a team of economists from Brandeis
University calculated the direct and indirect costs of hunger, taking into account its effects
on health, education, and economic productivity. They estimated the total cost to the
country that year to be $167.5 billion.6 This means that we are all paying for hunger.
Americans are not indifferent to people suffering from hunger—people of all income
levels give to charities that provide for the most disadvantaged in society. Yet the num-
About
50 percent of all U.S. children
will, at some point before they turn
18, live in a household that
receives food stamps/SNAP.1
n
Bread for the World Institute
51 percent of U.S. families headed by
a person age 65 to 74 had no money in
retirement savings accounts in 2010.2