THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND involuntary hunger is poverty, otherwise everyone would have plenty of nutritious food to eat. Unfortunately the pervasive, grinding poverty in Northeast Louisiana brings forth corresponding pervasive, grinding hunger. In fact, the Mississippi Delta – which is made up of parishes and counties bordering the Mississippi River in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas – is famous on a national level for being a sinkhole of poverty.
With a poverty rank of 22.1%, Northeast Louisiana has a poverty rate that is 86% higher than the national average of 12.1%. General population poverty rates range from a low of 18.4% in Jackson Parish to a high of 32.4% in Tensas Parish – Tensas being known as one of our “Delta Parishes”.
The poverty rate for children in Northeast Louisiana is even more alarming. The lower end of the poverty is in Jackson Parish at 25.8% and the higher end is in East Carroll parish at 57.3%. Of the 65,000 children in public schools in Northeast Louisiana about 35,000 are defined as being “at risk” by the Louisiana Department of Education. Our involvement with these children through our BackPack Program for kids leads us to believe, at this point, that at least 10% of the “at risk” children are suffering from chronic hunger. Roughly half of the people who seek emergency food assistance through our food bank in Northeast Louisiana are either children or the elderly.
To say there is pervasive hunger in Northeast Louisiana is to understate the obvious. That's why over 200 Feeding America food banks exist. No one deserves to go hungry, especially the children, the elderly, and the working poor. Our role and our responsibility as a member of Feeding America is one of addressing the hunger issue in the twelve parishes of Northeast Louisiana. We invite you to join us in our efforts.
