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Feed the Hungry
Did you know that 27% of our national food supply is thrown away every year? More than one quarter of this most precious resource is wasted because of cosmetic damages, mislabeling, weight errors and overproduction. South Carolina ranks 6th in the percentage of people in the US identified by the US Department of Agriculture as "food insecure." This state ranks 1st in the rate at which people fell into food insecurity over the last four years in the US. More than 250,000 residents in coastal South Carolina are at risk of hunger and malnutrition, representing 28 percent of the population of this area. Hunger is more than just a growling sensation in the stomach; it's an emotional and physical stress that, when prolonged, may cause serious health problems and a substantial loss in the quality of life. The myth that hunger in America affects only the homeless, or people living in the most remote and impoverished locales is not the case. The typical person suffering from food insecurity in South Carolina is not necessarily a homeless or jobless individual. They are parents working more than one job to try and support their families, senior citizens trying to cope with the rising cost of medical care and prescription drugs, and children relying on after-school feeding programs for their meals. In Charleston, requests for emergency food services increased by 3 percent last year and 69 percent of all individuals requesting food were employed. In the state of South Carolina, 26 percent of the children and 23 percent of individuals over the age of 65 live in poverty. According to raw data from the 2000 Census, the Lowcountry has the fastest increasing Latino/Latina population in the state, growing by as much as 7 percent in Jasper and Beaufort counties alone. This population is largely representative of migrant farm-workers and low-paid seasonal employees of the tourism industry. In the Lowcountry, more than half of the poor are single-parent families, headed by working females.What can we do to feed the hungry in South Carolina? We, as individuals, churches, businesses, and nonprofit organizations can support food pantries, food banks, soup kitchens, after-school food programs for children, Meals-on-Wheels, etc. by donating food, conducting food drives, financial donations, and volunteering. |
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