CENTRE COUNTY, Pa (WJAC) — Those who work the front lines of providing services to those in need say the number of people who are going hungry continues to increase in many communities.
Officials add that a snapshot of food insecurity in one area county reveals some surprising results.
Across Centre County, officials say one in eight households experience food insecurity, and those households with children have a greater percentage of hunger issues than those without children.
That’s just one of the findings presented Thursday in the Centre County hunger mapping report – which was compiled by the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.
“We want to really focus in on communities at the zip codes level, the census track level, to make sure we understand the cause of hunger and how we can work to address it.”
It’s been a yearlong study, surveying area food banks and pantries, as well as other sources of food donations in Centre County.
According to the study, the number of food insecurity reports in Centre County, since 2021, has risen substantially by more than 40 percent.
Officials say the factors involved range from the economy to more individual issues and just the difficulties some have in trying to obtaining food bank goods.
“An individual at a food pantry should be receiving food if they see that they have need. We call that self-declaration of need; if an individual comes to a pantry and signs off that they have need, that should be enough for individuals to receive food.”
The report also shows that meat and produce are the top items requested at food banks statewide.
According to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, 1.8 million Pennsylvania residents experience food insecurity issues.