There is enough food today for every man, woman and child in the world to lead a healthy and productive life.¹

However, more than 850 million people suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition globally; this constitutes 14 percent of the world’s population.¹

Every day, 30,000 children under the age of 5 die from mostly preventable causes, including malnutrition; that is one child every 2.9 seconds.¹

In 2006, almost 986 million people lived below the international poverty line, earning less than $1 per day.²   

Niger, the world’s poorest country, has an average annual income of under $240 per person. The annual income in the US is $43,700 per person. Or, in essence, the average American lives on the same amount of money as 182 Nigeriens.¹

However, the US has as many citizens living below the poverty line ($20,600 for a family of 4) as the total resident population of Florida, Illinois, and Wisconsin combined.  That’s 38 million people unable to afford a healthy diet - over 13 million of them are children.¹

In 2006, Rhode Island had the second highest child poverty rate in New England (15.1%) - 1 out of every 6 children in Rhode Island lives in poverty. ³

Approximately 1 out of 8 Rhode Island households are food insecure, meaning they have uncertain availability of adequate and nutritious food.⁴

Most people who battle hunger suffer from chronic undernourishment and vitamin/mineral deficiencies, resulting in stunted growth, weakness, and heightened vulnerability to illness.  This affects their long term physical health and mental capacity.²

1 www.oxfamamerica.org, 2 www.bread.org, 3. www.census.gov 4 www.rifoodbank.org