News
Summer Food Program
The Summer Food Program is up and running in many school districts today. The Summer Food Program provides nutritious meals to children when school is out. Click the big yellow sun on the left for a search-able database that will help you find the site location most convenient for you and your family.
Can Low-Income American afford a Healthy Diet?
In the November 2008 edition of Amber Waves an article about the affordability of a healthy diet was published. You can access the article at the link below. Among the points discussed were:
- Low-income households that receive maximum benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program usually have the purchasing power necessary to afford healthy diets; others may not.
- Relative to other households, low-income households must allocate a higher share of both their income and time budgets to food if they wish to consume palatable, nutritious meals.
- For many American households, achieving an affordable healthy diet will require reducing their expenditures on less nutritious foods and moving nutrient-dense foods, such as fruit and vegetables, to the center of their plates and budgets.
It is interesting to me that “households that receive the maximum benefit from SNAP/Food stamps usually have the purchasing power necessary to afford healthy diets; others may not.” Most households receiving benefits DO NOT get the maximum allotment however, making it a challenge for these households to make those benefits stretch.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/November08/Features/AffordHealthyDiet.htm
Amber Waves is a publication of the United States Department of Agriculture
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Utahns Against Hunger
Since 1979 Utahns Against Hunger has worked to expand the reach of nutrition programs to the estimated 90,000 households in Utah that struggle to afford enough food. We are not an emergency food provider. Food pantries and charities make up only about 15% of all food assistance in our state. So instead we work hard every day to shape public policy and make nutrition programs work for the people who need them.
We work to build the public will to end hunger by educating and collaborating with local policymakers who decide how programs work. We strengthen child nutrition by promoting and expanding summer food programs, school meals, and by ensuring that safety net programs like WIC and Food Stamps are doing what they are supposed to do. We grow community networks by helping to build the capacity of local charities and ensuring people in need know where to go for help in their local communities. And finally, we raise the profile of hunger by working with media, community groups, educators, and religious organizations.
No one in Utah should suffer with hunger. Please join us in supporting our work!