Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap study shows the food insecurity rate for Grundy County is 14.7%.
The childhood food insecurity rate is 20.4%, which is the highest of the 15 Northwest Missouri counties. The study by the country’s largest hunger relief organization also shows 46,910 individuals are food insecure in the 19-county service area of the Second Harvest Community Food Bank of Saint Joseph.
The service area includes Caldwell, Daviess, Harrison, Grundy, Livingston, Mercer, Clinton, DeKalb, Gentry, and Worth counties.
A child insecurity rate of 18 and a half percent was also reported for the service area.
Second Harvest Chief Executive Officer Chad Higdon says the study “shines a light on the challenge of hunger and the impact [the food bank] is making.” The data will be used to align services to meet the needs of the counties the food bank serves.
Second Harvest reports food insecure children, seniors, and families make choices each day to either pay for medications or food. A news release defines hunger as “a feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food, coupled with the desire to eat” and says more than 40 million individuals in the United States face that feeling on a daily basis.
summary of Map the Meal Gap and an interactive map can be found at THIS LINK.
