Information from the website of the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas

Did you know

• Nearly one in five adults and one in four children in Texas are hungry.
• 41,000 children under the age of 18 in Travis County are confronted with food insecurity every day.
• 82% of Food Bank Partner Agency recipients are food insecure. 49% of recipients experience outright hunger. (Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest)
• 61% of Austin Independent School District (AISD) students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Making Ends Meet  

• 76% of households receiving assistance from CAFB Partner Agencies report incomes below the federal poverty level. (Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest)
• 106,930 (12.6%) of Travis County individuals live below the Federal poverty level ($18,850 for a family of four). (Source: Austin Community Survey, 2004)
• The annual income needed for a Travis County family of four without employee sponsored health insurance to "afford" to live in the Austin area is $53,080. That's 257% above the Federal poverty level. (Source: CPPP.org, The Family Budget Estimator Project)
• Austin continues to have the highest cost of living in the state of Texas, exceeding housing costs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth.
  Those Served are Younger
• While the child poverty rate in Texas is 23.2%, for the CAFB service area, 35% of the household members receiving food are children. (Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest)
• While 12.4% of Texans in poverty are elderly, only 7% of households receiving food through CAFB are elderly. (Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest

Working Poor

• Approximately 200,000, or 20%, of Travis County residents are classified as "working poor" by the Texas Department of Human Services.  (Source: Basic Needs Coalition, 2005)
• Between 2000 and 2003, the number of households in Travis County increased by 23,274, the majority of which (21,822 households) fell in the lowest three income brackets having an annual income of $24,999 or less.
  Who's Serving Our Hungry?
• Of Food Bank Partner Agencies, 71% of pantries and 37% of the soup kitchens are run by faith-based agencies.
• 59% of Partner Agency pantries and 12% of soup kitchens are entirely volunteer run with no paid staff.
• CAFB is by far the most important source of food for its Partner Agencies, accounting for 76% of food for pantries and 38% for soup kitchens.
  (Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest)

No matter where you are, the statistics about hunger in your own community are just as compelling.

Find out how you can be a part of the great work of the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas and their mission of ending hunger in central Texas by visiting their site.  

Here's something you can do today:  For every comment this post receives indicating it has been read, Tyson Foods will donate 100 pounds of food (up to a 35K pound truckload) to the HAM-up (Tweetup), sponsored by the Food Bank, Social Media Club Austin and 501 Tech Club Austin.  Help us fill the truck.  Comment here (even one-word comments acceptable--BTW, since our comments are moderated, it might take a bit to get them up, but I WILL get them up).

 UPDATE--The response from the online community has been awesome. From your response, we were able to fill the truck in less than six hours.  THANKS!!!!