For nearly four years, Arkansas was the top-ranked state in the country for senior hunger, but that recently changed due in part to a focus on alleviating senior hunger by the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, the Department of Human Services and Arkansas’s six Feeding America food banks including the Food Bank of North Central Arkansas. A newly-released report from Feeding America and the National Foundation to End Senior Hunger finds just under 20 percent of Arkansas’s seniors are at risk of food insecurity for a decrease of more than five percentage points, and the state now ranks fifth in the nation by Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Food Bank of North Central Arkansas CEO Jeff Quick says organizations across the state stepped up its effort to fight senior hunger nearly three years ago.
Listen:
right-click to download mp3
The report also found nearly 15 percent, or 9.8 million seniors, face the threat of hunger on the national level. That is a decline of one percentage point between 2014 and 2015, the most recent year for available data. Quick says he’s pleased that Arkansas and the United States are both seeing declines in senior food insecurity, but the fight continues.
Listen:
right-click to download mp3
Other national findings on the report include seniors ages 60-to-69 at a higher risk of food insecurity than ages 70-and-older. Seniors in rural areas are also at a higher risk particularly in the southern and southwestern United States.
Quick says Feeding America tries to define food insecurity by conducting a study in which 18 different questions are asked.
Listen:
right-click to download mp3
For more information on senior hunger in Arkansas or on becoming a senior outreach volunteer, go online to arhungeralliance.org, or contact the Food Bank of North Central Arkansas at 870-499-3223.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI