Butterfield: Hunger Study Shows Enormous Needs in Eastern N.C.
Press Release
Congressman G. K. Butterfield said a new national hunger study underscores the need for a strong nutrition safety net for North Carolina families that continue to struggle amidst the slow economic recovery.
"For those of us working closely with people throughout eastern North Carolina, we know there is a difficult reality for the many people struggling through these tough times, " Butterfield said.
Among congressional districts, Butterfield's district ranks as the second worst for food insecurity among all 436 districts across the country.
The ranking came from a recent report by the Food Research and Action Center, which analyzed survey data collected by Gallup through the end of 2010 as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.
The report provides a comprehensive and timely examination of the struggle that very large numbers of American households, in every part of the country, are having with affording enough food. It reports on food hardship data and trends through December 2010 for the nation, regions, states, Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), and congressional districts.
The Food Research and Action Center is the leading national nonprofit organization working to improve public policies and public-private partnerships to eradicate hunger and undernutrition in the U.S. FRAC works with hundreds of national, state and local nonprofit organizations, public agencies, corporations and labor organizations to address hunger, food insecurity, and their root cause, poverty.
As a state, North Carolina was ranked sixth worst in the country for food security with a food hardship rate of 23.5 percent.
Butterfield said that while this shows a significant problem for people in North Carolina, the data also indicates that food hardship is a challenge for people all across the country.
Nationwide, nearly one in five Americans struggled to afford enough food for themselves and their families in 2010, according to the report.
Butterfield said that the data highlights the importance of federal nutrition programs, many of which are facing drastic cuts. Among the cuts for Fiscal Year 2011 that have been proposed by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.):
* $747 million cut to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (the WIC program)
* $100 million cut for the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program;
* $20 million cut to the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP);
* Eliminate the Hunger Free Communities Grants - $5 million cut;
* Eliminate The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) Infrastructure Grants - $6 million cut
"The federal government certainly needs to find ways to cut costs and reduce spending, but that burden should not fall heaviest on the people with the greatest needs," Butterfield said.
In creating the report, more than 352,000 respondents were asked a series of questions on a range of topics, including emotional health, physical health, healthy behavior, work environment and access to basic services.
The specific food hardship question that Gallup-Healthways has been posing is very similar to one of the questions asked by the federal government in its annual survey of food security. Gallup-Healthways has been asking: "Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?"
The rankings among the other members of the North Carolina congressional delegation for the highest rates of food insecurity were: Renee Elmers (2nd District) -- 60th; Walter Jones (3rd District) -- 149th; David Price (4th District) -- 342nd; Virginia Foxx (5th District) -- 70th; Howard Coble (6th District) -- 75th; Mike McIntyre (7th District) -- 88th; Larry Kissell (8th District) -- 65th; Sue Myrick (9th District) -- 254th; Patrick McHenry (10th District) -- 40th; Health Shuler (11th District) -- 95th; Mel Watt (12th District) -- 45th; and, Brad Miller (13th District) -- 216th.
Among the top 100 metropolitan areas, three of the worst seven food insecurity rates were in North Carolina -- Winston-Salem, Greensboro-High Point and Asheville.
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