There was an article in the paper yesterday on food insecurity, which is a term that I was unfamiliar with. It is defined as the disruption of eating patterns or a lack of food consumption due to a lack of money and access to food.
Food insecurity is affecting 49 million Americans who are mostly poor, female headed households, families with children, Blacks and Latinos. One in five households with children is affected by food insecurity. The US is continuing to set records in this area for the fifth consecutive year. This certainly is not a set of statistics that we can be proud of; in fact, it's disgraceful. As country with the kind of wealth that we have, as well as the extent of government support through a plethora of entitlement programs, no one should be wondering where their next meal is coming from.
Locally, I have pledged to Kim Repac, CFO at WMHS and a newly appointed board member for the Western Maryland Food Bank, that the health system needs to step up and do more to support the Food Bank. All they need to do is to tell us how we can help.
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