Hunger in America: Why people in the wealthiest nation are still going hungry

Help us feed hungry families when you donate your car in Columbus

Access to food is a luxury that millions take for granted. Hungry? Just reach into the fridge or drive to the local supermarket. However, for more and more Americans, the prospect of having food on the table every night isn’t a certainty.

Since 2006, the U.S. government has been using the term “food insecure” to describe any household that doesn’t have consistent access to food due to lack of money or other resources. Regardless of the official name, the number of hungry people in America is growing.

Consider the following statistics:

In 2013, more than 49 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including almost 16 million children.
In some places, like the South Bronx in New York, the rate of food insecurity is as high as 37 percent.
More than 48 million Americans currently depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the food stamp program).

Why is this happening?

All of this may come as a surprise, since the United States is the wealthiest country in the world. However, as of 2013, over 45 million people—14.5 percent of the population—live in poverty.

That begs the question: How is this possible?

• The economy hasn’t fully recovered: While the economy is slowly recovering from the 2007 crash, things are still much worse for prime age workers (25-54 years old) than they were in 2006
• The income gap is widening: When we hear about economic growth in the United States, much of what is being reported is the growth of corporate profits and the increase in stock prices, rather than increases in employment and working-class wages. In fact, in 2013, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that the U.S. labor market is only about one-fifth of the way to a full recovery.
• Lack of education: If you have a low paying job, it’s difficult to set aside enough funds to get a better education. However, without a better education, it’s difficult to get a higher-paying job. This cycle is nearly impossible to break, and keeps impoverished individuals trapped in lower paying jobs.

You can help by donating your car in Columbus

These issues exist all around us. In fact, Ohio is one of the eight states that has a higher household food insecurity rate than the national average.

If you’d like to help, and you have an old or unused vehicle you want to get rid of, donate it to Volunteers of America in Columbus. Cars, boats, ATVs, RVs, motorcycles, tractors–we’ll take just about anything with a motor, running or not.

When you donate your car in Columbus, the benefits help us fund our social service programs to hungry families in all of the Ohio communities we serve.

Just fill out our online vehicle donation form or call (800) 225-0732. We offer free same-day towing, and you might even get more money for your vehicle as a tax-deductible donation than you would by selling it on your own.