Dear Friends:
It is with great honor that I present to you the most comprehensive study of domestic
hunger ever undertaken, Hunger in America 2006. The release of this study comes on the
heels of the most catastrophic hurricane seasons Americans have ever witnessed. We have
all seen the devastation Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma had on the landscape of the
American Gulf as well as our beloved towns and cities. Tragically, as the murky waters
began to recede, the faces of poverty and hunger in our country began to emerge.
The aftermath of these brutal storms revealed to the entire nation the hidden crisis of
Americans living in poverty. Many of us asked ourselves, “In the land of plenty, how
can this be?” Yet, our eyes are not the only ones reopened. Newspapers across the
globe pondered the very same question, shocked at the very same images of desperate
Americans that could easily have been mistaken for communities of the Third World.
While the face of poverty was partially hidden, so was the enormous generosity and spirit
of the American people to join together in a common purpose to help those who are
suffering. This unprecedented outpouring of support was demonstrated in record levels of
donations to non-profits involved in the disaster-relief efforts; schoolchildren
collecting canned goods to send to the impact zone; households taking in a distraught
families when they had nowhere else to turn; and doctors and other medical professionals
working around the clock to provide the medical care needed when there was no hospital
left. These few examples illustrate that the moral will to end human suffering, including
hunger, is within all Americans.
What you hold in your hands is the most extensive and ambitious study of hunger in America
to date. Hunger in America 2006 involved more than 52,000 face-to-face interviews with
clients who sought emergency help through our network of more than 200 food banks and
their member agencies. Additionally, more than 30,000 of these member agencies across the
country responded to our questionnaire as well.
The numbers contained in this report reflect the stories of thousands of Americans living
through disasters everyday, and not just after a hurricane. For these Americans, disaster
occurs when faced with the difficult choices of being forced to choose between feeding
your family and paying the rent, between filling a prescription and eating dinner, or
between providing a warm home for their children and buying groceries.
The struggle to end hunger so that no family has to make these difficult choices confronts
this nation. Like the receding of the flood waters, the pages within this report reveal a
hidden America that some may have never known existed until now. Hunger in America is not
just the homeless: it impacts our nation’s cities and small towns, our wealthy
suburbs and our poorest rural counties. Hunger impacts families with jobs and the elderly
with medical needs. This study supports the notion that hunger in America does not
discriminate.
I extend my deepest thanks to the many America’s Second Harvest Network members that
participated in this study. The road to this report’s publication has been tireless,
and the effort our Network has shown towards Hunger in America 2006 reflects our shared
belief in the significance of the data included. In addition, I would also like to thank
the thousands of agencies that allowed data collectors to come into their operation to
conduct interviews, as well as the time put towards answering detailed questions regarding
the features of their operation.
I must also acknowledge the dedicated and conscientious work of the entire research team
that made this report possible. The staff of Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. exemplified
professionalism and devotion towards this very difficult project, and Dr. John Cook of the
Boston University School of Medicine and Dr. Beth Osborne Daponte of Yale University and
their team of respected and venerated researchers applied themselves to the task at hand
as if it were their very own project.
Finally, I would like to express my grateful appreciation for the tens of thousands of
Americans who had the courage to be interviewed and divulge their personal information for
this endeavor. It is because of their stories that I am proud to present to you Hunger in
America 2006.
Robert H. Forney
President and CEO
America’s Second Harvest
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