SOURCE: AP/Rich Pedroncelli
Fides (www.fides.org/index.php) reports the following:
Washington (Agenzia Fides) – The Christian organization Bread for the World has just released its annual study on hunger and poverty in the Latino community living in the United States, which shows that Latino families are the ones most prone to these problems. One Hispanic child out of three are in danger of going hungry in the richest country in the world where Hispanics represent over 16% of the population. 34% of Latino families who have children must fight to find food every day, compared to 22% of American families in general. 36% of Hispanic children live in poverty, compared to 25% of North Americans. The federal nutrition programs that provide food vouchers, together with the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women and Children (WIC), and schools have helped to prevent an even greater number of people suffering from hunger. 35% of Latinos are entitled to food vouchers, while only 21.4% is included in the program. According to a report from the White House, 3.7 million Latino families, including 8 million children benefit from the aid of the various nutritional programs proposed. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 21/09/2012)
These numbers are astounding. Thirty-four per cent of Hispanic families lack food on a daily basis. Thirty-six per cent live in poverty. Twenty-two per cent of all American families struggle to find food each day….. 22%! Twenty-five per cent of American families live in poverty…. 25% in the richest country of the world.
Did you know that one of the greatest concentrations of poverty in the United States is in Fresno, California.
The hungry are in our midst, and often they are invisible to us because we look beyond them. We don’t look at them or for them. There is something in us that prefers it that way. We need to root it out.
