Information on Childhood Hunger

Illinois

• Unemployment is 11% statewide

• 1,532,238 people, including 500,000 children, now live in poverty in Illinois – 12.2% of the total population

• Because hunger is a symptom of poverty, the demand for emergency and government nutrition programs has exploded.

  • Feeding Illinois has seen a 50% increase in requests for emergency food assistance over the past two years.

  • 1,607,496 individuals and 756,341 Illinois households participated in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) in February 2010, formerly known as the food stamp program. This is a 14% increase in the number of households participating from the previous year.

  • According to the USDA, 11.1% of Illinois households face food insecurity.tog

  • Over 1,991,026 Illinois children are enrolled in the National School Lunch Program and are eligible to receive free and reduced lunch during the 2009-10 school year. (5)

• Feeding America’s Hunger in America 2010: Illinois State Report found that Feeding Illinois food banks provided emergency food to 1.4 million Illinois residents in 2009, which is 1 in 10 men, women, and children in our state. The report further found that:

  • 42% of those we serve are children

  • 28% of households had at least one working adult

  • 14% of the unemployed we serve had been unemployed for less than 6 months

  • 84% of Feeding Illinois clients report that over the previous 12 months they have been in a situation where the food they bought just didn’t last and they did not have money to get more.

Taken from http://feedingillinois.org/hunger/