Understanding Childhood Hunger

Glossary of Hunger Terms

Below are some terms and definitions used to discuss childhood hunger.

Child & Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
Subsidizes healthy meals and snacks served in participating after-school programs, child care settings, and adult daycare facilities. Serves 1.8 billion meals annually.
Childhood hunger
Uneasy or painful sensation among children, caused by involuntary lack of food within their households. Children can also be hungry nutritionally without feeling any sensation of pain or discomfort. Over 12 million children are at risk of hunger in America.
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Reduces tax burdens for low-income working households by providing a tax credit to eligible working families with annual incomes below $37,000. For workers with very low incomes, the credit increases with each additional dollar of earnings. Shown to effectively reduce childhood poverty.
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
Provides USDA commodities to states for distribution through local food banks, pantries and emergency kitchens. (Commodities are surplus domestic agricultural products that USDA purchases for distribution to federally funded food programs.) Provided 476 million pounds – or 239,000 tons – of commodities last year.
Emergency Kitchen (Soup Kitchen)
Charitable program that provides prepared foods for persons to eat on the premises. Over 5,000 kitchens serve an average 474,000 meals per day.
Food Bank
Charitable non-profit organization that solicits, receives, inventories and distributes donated food and grocery products to charitable human-service agencies, such as food pantries and emergency kitchens, to provide directly to needy clients.
Food Insecurity
The limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, including involuntarily cutting back on meals, food portions or not knowing the source of the next meal. Also known as “at risk of hunger”. Includes categories of “low” and “very low” food security, indicating degrees to which food intake is reduced or normal eating patterns disrupted because of lack of money and other resources for food. Nearly 16% of U.S. households with children are food insecure at some point during the year
Food Pantry (Food Shelf)
Charitable agency that distributes unprepared foods for offsite use. Over 30,000 pantries distribute an average of 239 million pounds of food per month.
Food-Rescue Organization
Charitable organization that collects prepared and/or perishable foods from sites such as restaurants, hotels and caterers for distribution either directly to needy persons or to charitable human-service agencies to provide to needy clients through various programs.
Food Security
Access to enough food for an active, healthy life. At a minimum, food security includes the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways. Nearly 9 of 10 U.S. households (89%) are food-secure.
Food Stamp Program (FSP)
Federal program considered the first line of defense against hunger. Enables low-income families to buy eligible nutritious food with Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards in authorized retail food stores. Current average monthly benefit is $93 per person.
Hunger
The uneasy or painful sensation caused by a recurrent or involuntary lack of access to food. Many scientists consider hunger to be chronically inadequate nutritional intake due to low incomes, not just lack of food. This means that people can be hungry from a nutritional perspective without experiencing physical pain.
Hunger vs. Food Insecurity
Hunger is often a symptom of acute food insecurity, but one does not depend upon the other. Hunger is not necessarily present where there is food insecurity, nor is food insecurity a pre-requisite for hunger. However, hungry children are more likely to exist in food insecure households.
National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
Federally assisted program that provides nutritionally balanced low-cost, reduced-price or free lunches to schoolchildren in public and non-profit private schools. Provides lunches in 100,000 participating schools to more than 29 million children each school day.
Poverty
A family is “in poverty” when its total income is below the poverty threshold for the family’s specific size and composition (number of adults and children). The poverty threshold is determined annually by the federal government as the minimum level of income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living. Today’s poverty threshold for a family of four with two children is $19,800.
School Breakfast Program
Federally funded but not federally mandated. Provides children in participating schools with nutritious low-cost, reduced-price or free breakfasts during the school year. Over 9 million school children receive a school breakfast each school day.
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
Federal program that provides supplemental nutritious foods, as well as nutrition counseling, to low-income, nutritionally at-risk pregnant women, infants and children up to age 5. Participants may also use vouchers to buy supplemental foods at authorized stores. Serves an average of 8 million American women and children each month.
Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)
Provides reimbursements to schools, local government agencies and community-based organizations for meals and snacks served to children during the summer months when school is not in session. Often combined with summer activity programs. Less than 20% of students receiving free or reduced-price meals during the school year receive these federally funded meals during the summer.
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
Provides assistance and work opportunities to needy families with dependent children by granting federal funds to states. Recipients receive cash assistance and other services, but must meet strict eligibility and work requirements and can only receive assistance for a limited period of time.
Universal Breakfast Program
Provides a free school breakfast to all students, regardless of family income. States where schools are implementing universal breakfast programs include Alabama, Arizona, California, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, and the District of Columbia.

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