Q:
Where does
the money go? A: All
donations
will be sent to the local chapter of the Maryland Food Bank in
Hagerstown, Maryland. From there, it gets distributed to
where it
is needed most
Q:
Can
I donate food instead of cash? A: Yes.
Donate food to your local food bank.
Q:
Where else can I donate to
besides this site? A:
You
can donate money to the following sites:
Q: How can $1 buy seven meals? A:
According to the Maryland Food Bank, they can purchase 7
meals
(about $14 dollars worth of food) by aggregating all of the
donors and combining them with other corporate donations and grants.
Q: What are the facts of hunger?
A: Hunger
in this country is (or at least should be) a national shame.
According to the Maryland Food Bank:
Each
week, over 50,000 different people rely on
free food from soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and other
feeding programs to avoid going hungry.
Annually, the
Maryland Food bank provides emergency
food
for 235,000 different people.
77 percent of
households served are food insecure.
(Food
insecurity is defined as limited or uncertain availability of
nutritionally adequate foods. By contrast food security is defined as
access by all people at all times to enough food for an active healthy
life.
23 percent of
households served by
Maryland’s
charitable
food providers are food secure. The reasons they are using emergency
feeding sites vary--it may be sudden job loss, high fuel costs or
unexpected medical expenses. These people are teetering on the edge of
food insecurity.
Among households
with children under the age of 18,
81
percent are food insecure or at risk of hunger.
Among households
with adults over 65, 50 percent are
food insecure or at risk of hunger.
Nearly half (48
percent) of households have at least
one
employed adult.
67 percent of
clients served have incomes below the
federal
poverty level; which is $1.613 per month for a family of four. 58
percent of all households have a monthly income of less than $1,000.
48 percent of
clients served have completed high
school
and 20 percent have some higher education.
46 percent of
clients served choose between paying
for
food and paying their mortgage or rent, heating costs or medical bills.
54
percent of clients have unpaid medical bills and 27 percent of clients
have no health insurance. An additional 27 percent of clients use
Medicare and the rest operate with some form of health insurance (be it
private or state).
The racial
composition of those seeking emergency
food
assistance in Maryland is 25 percent white, 42 percent black and 30
percent Hispanic.
