Closing the Meal Gap
Did you know? In one of the most prosperous regions in the nation, one in four members of our community is struggling to make ends meet. It's hard for most of us to imagine what it's like to be truly hungry. At Second Harvest, we take seriously our vision to end local hunger. That's why we partnered with Santa Clara University to measure the meal gap in our community. We learned that although real gains were made to meet increasing needs, 184 million meals were missing for hungry families in 2010. Keeping pace with this rising tide will continue to be a challenge for Second Harvest Food Bank. The good news is that we're not alone. Our network of strong partnerships make the seemingly impossible happen every day.
We're Keeping Pace
Even though the need for food grew by nearly 25% in Santa Clara County and almost 20% in San Mateo County, food assistance programs kept pace by growing 25%.
Tracking Our Progress by County
CalFresh (food stamps) and Second Harvest Food Bank are the top two sources of food assistance for our neighbors in need.
Methodology
We calculate the Hunger Index by totaling the number of meals that local, low-income families purchase on their own combined with the meals they get through community food assistance programs. We then subtract this from the total number of meals that they need but cannot get on their own or from the sources above.
What's left is the number of "Missing Meals" that often translate into skipping lunch and going to bed hungry.