Monday, Nov. 23, 2015 | 2 a.m.
More than 297,000 people, or about 15 percent of valley residents, suffer from food insecurity, meaning they lack access to enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle. About 40 percent are children. In even the most affluent areas of Southern Nevada, at least 10 percent of people go hungry with some regularity. On average, they miss almost six meals per week about eight months out of the year.
In poorer neighborhoods, the average rate is 20 to 30 percent.
Experts attribute the trend to underemployment, a lower-than-average annual median income and a higher cost of food in Southern Nevada.
“Food insecurity knows no geographic boundaries,” said Jodi Tyson, director of government affairs at Three Square Food Bank, a local food pantry that distributes millions of meals a year. “It exists in every neighborhood.”
Where the data come from
People in food-insecure households do not necessarily go hungry all the time. Food insecurity may reflect a family’s need to make tradeoffs between basic needs, such as housing or medical care, and buying nutritionally adequate food.
Data for the “Map the Meal Gap” are based on statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national study was commissioned by Feeding America, an umbrella group for food banks nationally, including Three Square in Clark County.
Three Square also conducted a deeper analysis to better serve local residents.
“We are constantly working to provide up-to-date solutions for the Southern Nevada community that we serve,” Three Square CEO Brian Burton said. “Findings from Map the Meal Gap 2015 help hunger-relief organizations like ours better quantify the economic issues that so many of our neighbors deal with.“
By the numbers
450,000
The approximate number of people in Nevada, or about 15.8 percent of the population, are food insecure. This mirrors the national rate.
• The cost of an average meal in Clark County increased from $2.69 to $2.85 over a year. The extra 16 cents per meal adds up to nearly $700 a year for a family of four.
• It would cost more than $150 million a year to feed Clark County’s food-insecure population, according to Feeding America.
• In Clark County, there are more than 123,000 food-insecure children.
How you can help
• Donate to Three Square Food Bank. Organization officials say that for every $1 donated, three meals can be distributed locally. The food bank also accepts donated food and is consistently in need of canned meats such as tuna or chicken, dried or canned beans, canned soup, rice, pasta and cheese.
• Volunteer at a food bank. At Three Square, typical volunteer activities include sorting and repackaging food at the agency’s warehouse, filling backpacks with weekend food for children, packaging meals for children in school programs and boxing meals for senior citizens.
• Urge your member of Congress to support reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. The law governs six major food and nutrition programs that feed millions of children each year, both in and out of school. Reauthorization occurs every five years, and this year’s Sept. 30 deadline already passed. Members of Congress are working to reauthorize the bill before the most recent Dec. 11 budget deadline.
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