In
the 1960s and 1970s, hunger was nearly wiped out in
America, thanks to a bipartisan plan by the federal
government to create and expand nutrition programs for
children and the elderly. But over the last few years,
the government's support of these programs has decreased,
and the number of Americans who go hungry has skyrocketed.
Many
hunger organizations work to directly get food to those
who are hungry through food banks, soup kitchens, and
services like Meals On Wheels, but organizations also
work hard to try to convince government officials to
once again strengthen support for the successful programs
that can help eliminate hunger.
The
programs that organizations want the government to strengthen
include: Food Stamps, which help more than 25
million people with low incomes get the food for their
families they need to survive; The School Breakfast
and School Lunch programs which provide free and
reduced-price meals to over 22 million school children;
and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants, and Children, better known as WIC, which
provides nutritious food, nutrition counseling, and
health care referrals to 8 million low-income women,
infants and children.
