Child Hunger In America
One of the most devastating tragedies that both kills and makes people suffer all over the world is poverty. What many people do not realize is how widespread and serious this issue really is. In the United States one in seven households were food insecure last year which adds up to 17.4 million households and 16 million children facing the devastating effects of hunger. Getting the needed food and nutrition is critical to children's emotional and physical development and if no one tries to help who knows what will become of the millions of children who do not get the food and supplies that is required to live a normal life. Poverty not only effects children, but people in all parts of the United States from the most rural areas to big urban
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cities. Seniors and people of all races struggle with poverty and hunger and there is usually not any single person to blame for this horrible reality that exists. Throughout the past few years the rate of poverty and hunger has barely changed in the United States and without people spreading knowledge of this chaos and trying to contribute to the fight against it these horrific statistics will only get worse in the years to come. People all over the country need to put forth a strong effort and stop this tragedy from corrupting the lives of so many Americans because all together the country has much more than the necessary resources to do so.
Hearing that we have much more than the necessary resources to end poverty in the United States may sound a little unbelievable. It may seem that way because of how big of an issue poverty is. And it is true, there are so many destitute men, women, and children struggling to eat and stay warm and clothed all year round in America. In fact around one in seven households in the U.S. were food insecure last year which adds up to one in five kids living below the poverty line. When people are forced to live below the poverty line which is the designated minimum amount of income needed to maintain a certain standard of tolerable living they are forced to face many scary factors such as hunger, thirst, and illness and they are almost never effected by just one. This year the national poverty line is 11,770 dollars for a single adult person under the age of sixty-five and 24,250 dollars for a family of four. Over 45 million people in America live below this line and have to face the harsh conditions that come along with it. These conditions include fighting hunger and malnutrition which can lead to diseases such as anemia, beriberi, pellagra, and scurvy. Children who grow up malnourished are extremely prone to stunted growth and to being underweight. Hearing about how devastating the effects of hunger and malnutrition are is even more alarming after hearing about how many people it is effecting every day. Hunger affects one in four of every child living in America which adds up to 17 million children at risk of malnutrition in just our country.The facts regarding these issues are scary and "the percentage of people in deep poverty has doubled since 1976" (Edelman). With the amount of people living in deep poverty increasing, changes need to be made and if nothing more is done to end poverty then one in seven people will continue to struggle with hunger. Things need to be done and people need to start taking action and helping the suffering people in our country.
There are many steps needed to be taken in order to completely end the poverty issue that is corrupting the United States. It may seem too far fetched or like too difficult of a task but that is simply not the case. Even though sixteen million children faced the effects of hunger and 46.7 million people were in poverty last year it would not cost the government very much at all. Honestly hearing that it would only take 24.2 billion dollars to feed all of the hungry people in the United States year round is kind of shocking. And you might think that that is a shockingly large amount of money but it is really not when you compare it to the United States annual federal budget which is 3.8 trillion dollars. From that statistic alone anyone could see that hunger is not to big of a problem to defeat. Doing things like raising the federal minimum wage would help many low income households by providing them with more money for food and other necessities. The best way to escape the grip of poverty is with a good paying job but that's difficult when half of the jobs in our country now pay less than 33,000 dollars per year and a quarter pay less than 22,000 per year which is below the national poverty line for a family of four. These factors make it especially hard for the 5% of Americans that are unemployed. If more jobs were created it would make it easier for these people to find jobs and would help many of them to avoid hunger. You might feel like there is nothing you can do to help because you are just one single person and there are so many people suffering but any donation helps someone out there. Did you know that there was approximately 1.39 trillion dollars in circulation as of September 30, 2015 in the United States. This means that the citizens of the U.S. could easily donate enough money to feed everyone who goes hungry for an entire year because remember it only takes 24.2 billion dollars. Do not think that it should be up to the government to solve the problem because there are many ways for everyone to help and that would be the best way to solve the issue entirely.
Hunger is usually directly caused by poverty, in fact of the 48.1 million Americans who lived in food-insecure households 46.7 million were in poverty.
That includes 15.5 million children under the age of 18. This puts many of the older kids that are affected by poverty in a difficult position because in most cases families that struggle to provide enough food cannot provide a vehicle for the child to get to a job and start on the path towards a career and poverty free life. Poverty is usually the main cause of hunger simply because people who live with an income below the national poverty line are extremely prone to running out of money for food. This will surely affect the ten percent of seniors in America who are living in poverty. That ten percent adds up to five million seniors that face a unique and increased risk of hunger. Seniors face an increased risk of hunger because many of them are affected by unique medical and mobility challenges. Seniors may deal with diseases that corrupt mobility as serious as MS which can cause someone to lose the ability to walk or diseases that just demote the quality of ones life and make them lose the desire to exercise such as arthritis. Seniors are also at increased risk for general health problems such as diabetes and heart disease. Not only that but as people age their immune systems weaken and become generally less effective placing seniors at increased risk for even common sicknesses which can end up being devastating on someones health if the funds to see a doctor are not available. There are even some seniors that have the money to see a doctor but can not do so because they have lost the ability to drive. Losing the ability to drive makes it extremely difficult to provide yourself with food and without help from others the effects can be devastating and could even lead to starvation. Overall poverty has a particularly harmful effect on the lives of seniors due to many unfortunate factors. Although food
insecurity is more common among urban households, rural families have a slightly higher rate of hunger than the national average. Rural families are more prone to poverty because of many reasons including that education levels are typically lower. Other reasons include a higher unemployment rate and people having less access to communication and transportation networks. Although poverty and hunger is corrupting lives of people from every part of the country and people of every race, by being persistence the issue can be stopped.
After hearing about the severity of the effects of poverty on the lives of millions of American's every day can you carry on without trying to help? I would hope not because hearing about 16 million children, over 5 million seniors and people from every part of the United States starving and living in the cold without warm and clean clothes is devastating. There are so many things that can be done to try and help families like these and whether you contribute on a small scale by donating to specific families and food pantries or on a larger scale by working with anti-hunger groups such as feeding america we should all do something. It is obvious that something needs to be done because there are more than 17 million households struggling to eat each year in just the U.S. which might have something to do with the fact that a quarter of the jobs in the United States pay less than the poverty line of $22,000 per year for a family of four. Knowing that it would only take 24.2 billion of the United State's 3.8 trillion dollar annual federal budget to provide food for all of the hungry people in the United State's all year round is honestly kind of sickening. Together as a country we could obviously put a stop to this tragedy that occurs everyday and I hope that after hearing some of the mind blowing statistics about how widespread and harmful poverty is in peoples lives that you would help contribute to the fight to stop it.
cities. Seniors and people of all races struggle with poverty and hunger and there is usually not any single person to blame for this horrible reality that exists. Throughout the past few years the rate of poverty and hunger has barely changed in the United States and without people spreading knowledge of this chaos and trying to contribute to the fight against it these horrific statistics will only get worse in the years to come. People all over the country need to put forth a strong effort and stop this tragedy from corrupting the lives of so many Americans because all together the country has much more than the necessary resources to do so.
Hearing that we have much more than the necessary resources to end poverty in the United States may sound a little unbelievable. It may seem that way because of how big of an issue poverty is. And it is true, there are so many destitute men, women, and children struggling to eat and stay warm and clothed all year round in America. In fact around one in seven households in the U.S. were food insecure last year which adds up to one in five kids living below the poverty line. When people are forced to live below the poverty line which is the designated minimum amount of income needed to maintain a certain standard of tolerable living they are forced to face many scary factors such as hunger, thirst, and illness and they are almost never effected by just one. This year the national poverty line is 11,770 dollars for a single adult person under the age of sixty-five and 24,250 dollars for a family of four. Over 45 million people in America live below this line and have to face the harsh conditions that come along with it. These conditions include fighting hunger and malnutrition which can lead to diseases such as anemia, beriberi, pellagra, and scurvy. Children who grow up malnourished are extremely prone to stunted growth and to being underweight. Hearing about how devastating the effects of hunger and malnutrition are is even more alarming after hearing about how many people it is effecting every day. Hunger affects one in four of every child living in America which adds up to 17 million children at risk of malnutrition in just our country.The facts regarding these issues are scary and "the percentage of people in deep poverty has doubled since 1976" (Edelman). With the amount of people living in deep poverty increasing, changes need to be made and if nothing more is done to end poverty then one in seven people will continue to struggle with hunger. Things need to be done and people need to start taking action and helping the suffering people in our country.
There are many steps needed to be taken in order to completely end the poverty issue that is corrupting the United States. It may seem too far fetched or like too difficult of a task but that is simply not the case. Even though sixteen million children faced the effects of hunger and 46.7 million people were in poverty last year it would not cost the government very much at all. Honestly hearing that it would only take 24.2 billion dollars to feed all of the hungry people in the United States year round is kind of shocking. And you might think that that is a shockingly large amount of money but it is really not when you compare it to the United States annual federal budget which is 3.8 trillion dollars. From that statistic alone anyone could see that hunger is not to big of a problem to defeat. Doing things like raising the federal minimum wage would help many low income households by providing them with more money for food and other necessities. The best way to escape the grip of poverty is with a good paying job but that's difficult when half of the jobs in our country now pay less than 33,000 dollars per year and a quarter pay less than 22,000 per year which is below the national poverty line for a family of four. These factors make it especially hard for the 5% of Americans that are unemployed. If more jobs were created it would make it easier for these people to find jobs and would help many of them to avoid hunger. You might feel like there is nothing you can do to help because you are just one single person and there are so many people suffering but any donation helps someone out there. Did you know that there was approximately 1.39 trillion dollars in circulation as of September 30, 2015 in the United States. This means that the citizens of the U.S. could easily donate enough money to feed everyone who goes hungry for an entire year because remember it only takes 24.2 billion dollars. Do not think that it should be up to the government to solve the problem because there are many ways for everyone to help and that would be the best way to solve the issue entirely.
Hunger is usually directly caused by poverty, in fact of the 48.1 million Americans who lived in food-insecure households 46.7 million were in poverty.
That includes 15.5 million children under the age of 18. This puts many of the older kids that are affected by poverty in a difficult position because in most cases families that struggle to provide enough food cannot provide a vehicle for the child to get to a job and start on the path towards a career and poverty free life. Poverty is usually the main cause of hunger simply because people who live with an income below the national poverty line are extremely prone to running out of money for food. This will surely affect the ten percent of seniors in America who are living in poverty. That ten percent adds up to five million seniors that face a unique and increased risk of hunger. Seniors face an increased risk of hunger because many of them are affected by unique medical and mobility challenges. Seniors may deal with diseases that corrupt mobility as serious as MS which can cause someone to lose the ability to walk or diseases that just demote the quality of ones life and make them lose the desire to exercise such as arthritis. Seniors are also at increased risk for general health problems such as diabetes and heart disease. Not only that but as people age their immune systems weaken and become generally less effective placing seniors at increased risk for even common sicknesses which can end up being devastating on someones health if the funds to see a doctor are not available. There are even some seniors that have the money to see a doctor but can not do so because they have lost the ability to drive. Losing the ability to drive makes it extremely difficult to provide yourself with food and without help from others the effects can be devastating and could even lead to starvation. Overall poverty has a particularly harmful effect on the lives of seniors due to many unfortunate factors. Although food
insecurity is more common among urban households, rural families have a slightly higher rate of hunger than the national average. Rural families are more prone to poverty because of many reasons including that education levels are typically lower. Other reasons include a higher unemployment rate and people having less access to communication and transportation networks. Although poverty and hunger is corrupting lives of people from every part of the country and people of every race, by being persistence the issue can be stopped.
After hearing about the severity of the effects of poverty on the lives of millions of American's every day can you carry on without trying to help? I would hope not because hearing about 16 million children, over 5 million seniors and people from every part of the United States starving and living in the cold without warm and clean clothes is devastating. There are so many things that can be done to try and help families like these and whether you contribute on a small scale by donating to specific families and food pantries or on a larger scale by working with anti-hunger groups such as feeding america we should all do something. It is obvious that something needs to be done because there are more than 17 million households struggling to eat each year in just the U.S. which might have something to do with the fact that a quarter of the jobs in the United States pay less than the poverty line of $22,000 per year for a family of four. Knowing that it would only take 24.2 billion of the United State's 3.8 trillion dollar annual federal budget to provide food for all of the hungry people in the United State's all year round is honestly kind of sickening. Together as a country we could obviously put a stop to this tragedy that occurs everyday and I hope that after hearing some of the mind blowing statistics about how widespread and harmful poverty is in peoples lives that you would help contribute to the fight to stop it.