Click Here for "Hunger in the Land of Plenty" brochure (PDF file)
Hunger in America 2006
The Arkansas State Report
FOREWORD
It is a great privilege for me to present Arkansas' first-ever state report on hunger, one of only about 20 state reports in the country, compiled by America's Second Harvest-The Nation's Food Bank Network as part of Hunger in America 2006. It took a small army of hunger fighters to achieve this success in order to bring to the forefront of our state a serious problem-our neighbors are going to bed hungry, they're going to school hungry, they're going to work hungry-and they are forced every day to make choices they shouldn't have to make.
Hunger and food insecurity are problems we can-and need-to solve. There are countless studies on the damage that is done to folks who don't get enough to eat; cognitive learning deficits and failures to thrive in children, lack of productivity and absences from work, recurring illnesses among our seniors, and long-term social and economic impact.
While this study validates that there is a problem in our state, it also confirms that there are hundreds of local organizations across Arkansas that care-and have made it their mission to end hunger in our state and help give it a brighter, more prosperous future. I work with six such organizations every day, and they work with almost 1,000 more, and together, we all provide food to almost 50,000 different people in any given week. All 6 of AHRA's members and 569 local agencies participated in this study and shared information on over 1,000 different programs; I thank them all for their hard work and dedication to this project.
In 2005, the members of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance acquired and distributed more than 15.7 million pounds of food and essential grocery items to local agencies who feed the hungry. You will find in these results that food banks are the single most important source of food, and over 72% of the agencies said that if their food bank went away, it would create significant and even devastating impact. Only 23% of our agencies indicated that their programs are not facing problems that threaten their ability to continue to provide service. And the need for assistance is on the rise; an average of 57% of our agencies told us that they had more clients in 2005 than in 2001, when the last study was conducted on the national level.
I'd also like to acknowledge the most important people of all, our neighbors in need. These folks opened their lives and their hearts by participating in this study. I'm sure you can imagine how painful that was, yet they sat down by the hundreds, almost 1,300 in fact, to tell us their stories and spend fifteen minutes answering personal questions that anyone would find very difficult. They are the people we thank the most-and pay tribute to-this report displays their courage and their willingness to make themselves even more vulnerable so that we can learn from their experiences.
You may think that hunger isn't an issue, or if it is, it surely isn't occurring in your neighborhood; well, you're mistaken. The faces of hunger are no different than yours or mine; it could be the face of a co-worker, a classmate, a member of your church, or your next door neighbor.
I want to express Arkansas' thanks to America's Second Harvest and Mathematica Policy Research for their continued commitment to this research and commend them on a job well done and to the Office of the Attorney General of Arkansas, whose generous gift made the financing of this landmark study possible. Our study will serve as a benchmark, against which we will measure our success, our strengths, and our challenges, and formulate strategies to do more. But we can't do it alone-we need every partner we can find to make a difference. Got a minute? We sure could use your help!
Debra Alich
Executive Director
Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance
1400 West Markham , Suite 304
Little Rock , Arkansas 72201
(501) 399-9999
(501) 399-9996 fax
Click Here for the Report (PDF file)
