CLEVELAND, OH – Over the past five years, the Cleveland Foodbank has seen an increase of more than 75 percent in food delivered to hungry families in Northeast Ohio. Faced with rising demand this holiday season, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) visited the Cleveland Foodbank today to join President and CEO Anne Goodman to release a snapshot report on the increased demand for food assistance programs and to discuss new statistics showing that Ohio now ranks sixth in the nation for food insecurity.  The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services estimates that 70,000 Ohioans will exhaust unemployment insurance (UI) in January—unless Congress acts—which could put an even greater strain on Ohio food banks and pantries.

“While the jobs figures released Friday showed that our economy is slowly adding jobs, there are still too many Ohioans struggling under this tough economy,” Brown said. “At places like the Cleveland Foodbank, Ohioans who were once volunteers are now recipients. That’s why it’s critical that we all pitch in to help our neighbors in need.”

Brown also joined Phyllis Leanza, a 90-year-old Maple Heights senior who is a beneficiary of the Cleveland Foodbank, and other volunteers, to load trucks that will deliver food across Cuyahoga County. As co-chair of the Congressional Hunger Caucus, Brown is helping leading a bipartisan effort to encourage Americans to dedicate an “Hour for Hunger” during the holiday season. According to the USDA, the term “food security” refers to the “assured access to enough food for an active, healthy life” and for that food to be nutritious, safe, and easily obtainable through normal channels.
Brown is a leading Senate voice on issues relating to hunger and nutrition. While serving as Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition, and Family Farms, Brown wrote the Hunger-Free Schools Act, which would help reduce paperwork and enroll already-eligible students in childhood nutrition programs through direct certification. Brown’s bill was the centerpiece of the anti-hunger component of a new law, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. During Agriculture Committee consideration of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, Brown successfully passed two bipartisan amendments to the legislation, one ensuring greater access to summer feeding programs for children and another authorizing a pilot program to provide affordable organic choices in school feeding programs.

 

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