The Public Needs to Know About Food Banks
Lisa Flagg
English 115
August 18, 2013
“Food Banks, how they help people in need”
The population of the state of New Jersey is, 8,801,624. The current rate of unemployment is 9.5%, which means that almost 880,000 people face the question each day of “how am I going to feed my family today?’ As the director of Community Food of New Jersey is a hard task, you have to be prepared each day to face the challenges of feeding families in need. Majority of the people that are served by food banks, have children. The biggest challenge of about serving so many needy families is knowing that without the programs we (the food banks) run many of these people would not be getting any of the nutrition that they need on a daily basis. (FeedingAmerica.org)
In the world today there are people who never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. However, there are other who face those woes every day. Food banks are one of the options people have to help feed their families. The community food bank of New Jersey, along with our partner agencies, feed an estimated 900,000 people throughout the year in the state of New Jersey alone. There are also many other options available to New Jersey residents including the WIC program for pregnant woman and their children and SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program). But it is still hard for many residents to make ends meet and provide enough food with enough nutritional value for their families. The rising cost of putting food on the table is becoming a burden on many families. More and more people are turning to food banks and supplemental nutritional programs to help either feed their families completely or to help bring the food to the tables.
In New Jersey alone 13.5% of adults and a staggering 18.6% of children are food insecure. This means that this percentage of people do not know where their next meal is coming from each day, or even if they will have a meal for the day. This effects not only
English 115
August 18, 2013
“Food Banks, how they help people in need”
The population of the state of New Jersey is, 8,801,624. The current rate of unemployment is 9.5%, which means that almost 880,000 people face the question each day of “how am I going to feed my family today?’ As the director of Community Food of New Jersey is a hard task, you have to be prepared each day to face the challenges of feeding families in need. Majority of the people that are served by food banks, have children. The biggest challenge of about serving so many needy families is knowing that without the programs we (the food banks) run many of these people would not be getting any of the nutrition that they need on a daily basis. (FeedingAmerica.org)
In the world today there are people who never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. However, there are other who face those woes every day. Food banks are one of the options people have to help feed their families. The community food bank of New Jersey, along with our partner agencies, feed an estimated 900,000 people throughout the year in the state of New Jersey alone. There are also many other options available to New Jersey residents including the WIC program for pregnant woman and their children and SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program). But it is still hard for many residents to make ends meet and provide enough food with enough nutritional value for their families. The rising cost of putting food on the table is becoming a burden on many families. More and more people are turning to food banks and supplemental nutritional programs to help either feed their families completely or to help bring the food to the tables.
In New Jersey alone 13.5% of adults and a staggering 18.6% of children are food insecure. This means that this percentage of people do not know where their next meal is coming from each day, or even if they will have a meal for the day. This effects not only
References: The Community Food Bank of New Jersey (www.cfbnj.org) FAQs.org The Vitamin Angels (www.vitaminangels.org) Feeding America (www.feedingamerica.org) http://www.cfbnj.org/partners/ http://www.cfbnj.org/food/understanding-hunger/ http://www.benefits.gov/benefits/benefit-details/1312