“Stafford County Volunteer Regional Food Pantry”

By: Pedro Correa

Professor: Erica Ellsworth, MA

English 215

August 10, 2012

Stafford County Volunteer Regional Food Pantry
It is very important to support regional food pantries. In times of economy instability, hunger has reached levels that we cannot ignore. New Federal, State and local programs are helping people with economic hardships but those programs are not enough. We have to do more to help the current situation especially in our communities. As of 2012, hunger continues to be a worldwide problem. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "850 million people worldwide were undernourished in 2005 to 2011, the most recent years for which figures are available" and the number of hungry people has recently been increasing. The official poverty rate in the U.S. has increased for four consecutive years, from a 26-year low of 11.3% in 2010 to 12.7% in 2012. This means that 37.0 million people were below the official poverty thresholds in 2010. This is 5.4 million more than in 2009. The poverty rate for children under 18 increased from 16.2% to 17.8% over that period. Poverty is the state of being without the necessities of daily living, often associated with need, hardship and lack of resources across a wide range of circumstances. For some, poverty is a subjective and comparative term; for others, it is moral and evaluative; and for others, scientifically established. That is why it is so important to continue in our Stafford County Volunteer Regional Food Pantry Program. This program will continue to be funded with donation from members of our community, private sector corporations and is for those in needed and it will assist in reducing the fight against hunger. The Food Pantry