In many ways, America is the land of plenty. But for 1 in 6 Americans, hunger is an everyday reality. Many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are confined to small pockets of society, certain areas of the country, or certain neighborhoods, but the reality is much different. These are often hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot make ends meet and are forced to go without food for several meals, or even days.

More than 202 Feeding America food bank members help provide low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 37 million Americans each year, including nearly 14 million children and 3 million seniors. We are able to do so based on the outstanding support of corporate partners and government programs that help infuse our system with grocery products and financial resources.

It is a result of our national relationships and efficient local distribution system that we are able to help provide 8 meals for each dollar donated, making your contribution have real impact in communities nationwide.

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In many ways, America is the land of plenty. But for 1 in 6 Americans, hunger is an everyday reality that is even harder to bear during the holiday season. Many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are confined to small pockets of society, certain areas of the country, or certain neighborhoods, but the reality is much different. These are often hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot make ends meet and are forced to go without food for several meals, or even days.

More than 200 Feeding America food bank members help provide low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 37 million Americans each year, including nearly 14 million children and 3 million seniors. We are able to do so based on the outstanding support of companies like Bank of America, our exclusive partner of Give a Meal during the holiday season, and government programs that help infuse our system with grocery products and financial resources.

It is a result of our national relationship and efficient local distribution system that Feeding America is able to help secure and distribute 8 meals for each dollar donated. This holiday season, join Feeding America and Bank of America in helping fight hunger across the country and in your community. Give a meal. Make a difference.

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JoEllen has spent the last 28 years of her life sorting through medical bills and tending to the patients of a hospital. Her job at the finance department was the first position she took after moving to this area nearly 30 years ago, and the hard work she put into the job eventually paid off when she bought herself a two-bedroom home.

As a 31-year-old on a new coast, the trajectory of her life seemed to fall into place. She was in a job she loved and gave back to her community when she could, often organizing the department’s holiday program that raised gifts and money for families in need. Then, she recalls, “I was on the giving side of the food bank.”

Always maintaining herself as a strong and single individual, JoEllen was surprised to find herself pregnant in her early forties. Although the child’s father opted to have little to do with their baby, JoEllen wanted to be a mother.

Times got tough for JoEllen after her son, Alex, was born ten weeks premature. He suffered many set backs in school as homework became increasingly difficult for him. The school district placed him in special education classes, but at the time, JoEllen couldn’t afford to test Alex and find out exactly what was hindering her son. “As I was raising Alex, I realized that I couldn’t rely on his father’s child support. There were many times we needed a food bank.”

The two turned to Providence Regina House, an agency of Food Lifeline, for help throughout the years with visits varying from once a month to once a year. The food she received allowed JoEllen to focus her income on her mortgage, utilities, medical costs and car payments.

Today, the two live together as a constant source of support for each other, but still find themselves in need of help from time to time. Alex is fond of extreme sports and gets a thrill out of building and deconstructing gadgets. He’s picked up jobs around town in construction to help support himself, and his mother is constantly in the search for new projects he can do with his hands.

JoEllen is still a dedicated member of the job she started nearly 30 years ago, and has amassed new friends at the office and in her neighborhood. She says of her situation, “This is not the life I chose, but it’s a life that I really enjoy. The people of Providence Regina have really helped me stay on my feet.”

When church secretary Stephanie turned to her pantry for help, a humbling notion fell over her. “I was guilty of categorizing people. Suddenly, I became one of the people that I had once wondered if they were doing everything they could to better their circumstances.”

Her husband, Scott, a nurse whose paycheck provided the bulk of their income, lost his job more than a year ago. Up until that point, the couple supported their two sons on two incomes that still left them living paycheck to paycheck.

Stephanie had seen the various faces of hunger come through her church’s food pantry, an agency of Pennsylvania’s Westmoreland County Food Bank. “I volunteered to greet and sign the clients in each month and helped coordinate the paperwork, while my husband carried groceries for the recipients.” She did her work with kindness and patience, but just couldn’t quite understand why people didn’t eventually find their way back to “normal.”

Today, after spending a year watching her husband reapply unsuccessfully for jobs in various fields, the reality of her church pantry’s clients has become too clear and familiar to Stephanie. Even with a roof over their heads, her family is scraping to get by. Scott, her 20-year-old son, recently completed his studies as a nurse’s assistant and while his parents don’t ask for help, he voluntarily chips in some of his income for gas and food. Just like every other mom of a young boy, Stephanie wants to make sure 10-year-old Seth has the cool clothes his schoolmates have, but she can’t get more than the basics with a church secretary’s salary.

Her family’s struggle and the help they’ve received gave Stephanie a whole new look on life. “I learned that standing in that [pantry] line was a lesson in humility, but I also felt overwhelmingly appreciative to be able to take home bags filled with potatoes, chicken and pasta.”

As she tinkers with the wedding ring on her finger, 38-year-old Lydia smiles and thinks about Bobby. “When my husband passed away it was like a waking call that you really have to enjoy life like this was the last day,” she says. It’s been four years since Bobby succumbed to complications from multiple strokes, leaving Lydia to care for their children.

The two met in the late 90’s when Lydia was a computer engineering student. After completing her studies, she moved with Bobby to where he worked as a police officer. Soon after the birth of their eldest son, the young couple relocated to Utah following a stroke that left Bobby incapable of patrol work. Lydia found herself asking Hildegard’s Food Pantry, an agency of the Utah Food Bank, for assistance when Bobby’s new job as a security officer couldn’t keep the growing family afloat.

Today, Lydia is the director of the same church-affiliated pantry that she once turned to for help. She brings to her role an empathy borne from her own past. “… I been down the road, [went through the] same thing coming here without nothing, going to get services from the pantry to feed my kids,” she says of her past circumstances. “I’m thankful for every day…. And I think I’m getting some help up there from my husband who is watching over me.”

There’s a food desert on the northern coast of South Carolina, a grocery gap that’s filled by various pantries and soup kitchens served by the Lowcountry Food Bank, a member of Feeding America. Many of the people in this town rely on blue-collar work in the service industry that caters to the tourists of the coastal towns. Last year, Justina had one of these jobs as a line cook in a restaurant. The tourists weren’t flocking to the colorful streets as they previously had, and eventually Justina lost her job. Even in her best years as a fulltime line cook, Justina rarely made more than $12,000 a year.

Her husband, Deven, has scrambled over the last year to find a job in landscaping with very little success. They try to make ends meet for their young family by relying on unemployment benefits that have almost run out, and stocking their kitchen cupboards with the food they receive from their local food pantry served by the Lowcountry Food Bank. “We may never be rich,” Justina says of her family’s circumstances, “but we want our boys to know they have me and all the support they need. We want them to be happy and to want more for themselves.”

Feeding America is the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. Feeding America’s mission is to feed America’s hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger.

Each year, the Feeding America network provides food to more than 37 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States, including nearly 14 million children and nearly 3 million seniors. Its network of more than 202 member food banks serves all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, securing and distributing annually more than three billion pounds of food and grocery product. Those member food banks support more than 61,000 local charitable agencies, which provide food directly to individuals and families in need.

Our Efficiency

As reported in the Feeding America FY2012 audited financial statement, for every dollar raised Feeding America puts 97 cents directly back programs that serve 37 million people in need.

Charitable Ratings

Feeding America is been awarded a four star rating by Charity Navigator, America's premier independent charity evaluator. Receiving four out of a possible four stars indicates that Feeding America adheres to good governance and other best practices that minimize the chance of unethical activities and consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way.

Feeding America is also proud to comply with Better Business Bureau accountability standards. The Better Business Bureau’s guidelines recommend specific organizational procedures in the following areas:

• In how they govern their organization
• In the ways they spend their money
• In the truthfulness of their representations
• In their willingness to disclose basic information to the public

Feeding America food bank members help provide low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 37 million Americans each year, including nearly 14 million children and 3 million seniors.

The national efforts of Feeding America support more than 200 member food banks by securing and distributing food nationwide. Grocery products sourced from large corporate manufacturers and retailers as well as government sources are efficiently distributed through our system, ending up in the homes of families across the country.

It is a result of our national relationships and efficient local distribution system that we are able to provide 8 meals for each dollar donated, making your contribution have real impact in communities nationwide.

More than 50 million people go hungry every day. Feeding America and Bank of America are working together to help lower that number. Give a meal and make a difference in your community and across the country.