AARP Joins Forces with Jeff Gordon, NASCAR to Combat Hunger

Facts About Hunger in Alabama

An average of 6.8% of Alabama households reported very low food security, or food insecurity with hunger, between 2007 and 2009.  This rate has more than doubled since the last report in 2006, when 3.3 percent of households reported very low food security.

“Very low food security,” means people in the house ate less, and their normal eating patterns were disrupted because they lacked money for food, according to the USDA report. It most often means they worry the food in the house will not last until the next paycheck and they cannot afford to eat balanced meals. It also can mean meals are skipped and children don't get healthy meals.

The report, Household Food Security in the United States 2009, also found that, of the 1.86 million households in Alabama, another 8.2 percent had “low food security.” That is a less severe category that means there was some difficulty providing enough food for everyone in the house but there was no outright hunger. Together with the 6.8 percent very low food security rate, Alabama's total households with some level of food insecurity is 15 percent.