Hunger Facts
Hunger and Obesity: An Unexpected Connection
At first glance, hunger and obesity may seem like opposite challenges. In reality, they are often closely linked.
Families facing food insecurity frequently struggle to access affordable, nutritious foods. Limited budgets, transportation barriers, and a lack of nearby grocery stores can make healthy choices difficult, leading many households to rely on lower-cost foods that are filling but less nutritious.
Food insecurity can also create cycles of uncertainty, where families may have enough food one week and not enough the next. Over time, these challenges can contribute to poor health outcomes, including an increased risk of obesity and other chronic diseases.
In fact, many of the states with the highest rates of food insecurity also experience high rates of obesity. This reflects an important reality: hunger is not just about the amount of food available. It's about consistent access to the healthy, nutritious food people need to thrive.
Healthy Communities Start with Healthy Food
Addressing hunger means more than providing meals. It means ensuring every person has reliable access to nutritious food that supports long-term health, well-being, and opportunity.
How Obesity Leads to Hunger
Access to Healthy Food Shouldn't Depend on Your ZIP Code
The foods available in a community can have a major impact on health and well-being. Yet many families live in areas where affordable, nutritious food is difficult to find. These communities, often referred to as food deserts, may lack grocery stores that offer fresh produce, lean proteins, and other healthy options.
When nutritious food isn't easily accessible, families are often forced to rely on convenience stores, fast food restaurants, or other limited food sources. While these options may be affordable and convenient, they often provide fewer nutritious choices and can contribute to long-term health challenges.
For households stretching every dollar, shelf-stable foods are often an important and practical solution. They are budget-friendly, last longer, and help families make the most of limited resources. However, when healthier options are unavailable or unaffordable, maintaining a balanced diet becomes much more difficult.
Building Healthier Communities
Everyone deserves reliable access to nutritious food. By increasing the availability of healthy, affordable food in every community, we can help reduce hunger, improve health outcomes, and create opportunities for individuals and families to thrive.
Healthy food is more than a necessity. It's the foundation of a stronger, healthier community.
Creating Opportunities for Healthy, Active Lives
Physical activity is an important part of overall health, but for many families, staying active is not always easy.
The neighborhoods where people live can shape their opportunities to exercise and spend time outdoors. Some communities lack safe parks, playgrounds, walking trails, or recreational facilities, limiting opportunities for children and adults to be physically active. Concerns about traffic, neighborhood safety, or aging infrastructure can create additional barriers.
Many families also face demanding schedules, financial pressures, and caregiving responsibilities that leave little time for recreation or exercise. The stress that often accompanies these challenges can further impact both physical and mental well-being.
Building Communities That Support Health
Every family deserves access to safe places to walk, play, and stay active. Investing in community spaces, recreational opportunities, and healthy neighborhoods helps improve quality of life and supports long-term health for people of all ages.
When communities have access to nutritious food, safe environments, and opportunities for physical activity, everyone has a better chance to thrive.
Hunger Affects More Than Physical Health
Food insecurity doesn't just impact what people eat. It can affect every aspect of a person's well-being.
For many families, uncertainty about where the next meal will come from creates a constant source of stress. Balancing the costs of food, housing, healthcare, transportation, and other necessities often means making difficult decisions every day.
The strain of these challenges can take a toll on both physical and mental health. Financial pressures, unstable employment, limited access to healthcare, and housing insecurity can compound the stress experienced by individuals and families already struggling to make ends meet.
The Ripple Effects of Hunger
When families lack reliable access to nutritious food, the effects extend far beyond the dinner table. Stress related to food insecurity can impact health, educational achievement, workplace productivity, and overall quality of life.
That's why addressing hunger is about more than providing meals. It's about creating stability, improving well-being, and helping families build a stronger future.
Everyone deserves the peace of mind that comes from knowing they can put food on the table for themselves and their loved ones.
See How Hunger Impacts Your Community
Explore local food insecurity data and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges facing your neighbors through Map the Meal Gap
Every Plate Has a Story
- Facing Hunger Foodbank distributed over 14 million pounds of food in 2025, providing over 12 million meals at no cost to our neighbors in 2025.
- In our service area 1 out of 6 people are considered food insecure, including 1 of our 4 children.
- Facing Hunger Foodbank serves 42 percent of the total food insecure population in West Virginia
- 178 Mobile distributions were provided throughout 12 counties in 2025. These events provided fresh produce, proteins and shelf stable items to a minimum of 200 families at each event.
Childhood Hunger
Millions of children are facing a daily struggle for basic nutrition, and the numbers highlight a heartbreaking crisis.
- 14 Million: Over 14 million children in the U.S. live in food-insecure households, according to the latest USDA data.
- 4 out of 5: Households receiving assistance from the Feeding America network have a child under the age of 18 living with them.
- The Weekend Gap: Millions of children depend on free or reduced-price school meals, leaving them highly vulnerable during weekends and summer breaks.
The Hidden Costs of Hunger
A lack of consistent, nutritious food impacts almost every aspect of a child’s development and future potential.
- Education & Behavior: Hunger derails concentration, lowers grades, and causes social challenges due to irritability and a lack of energy.
- Health & Development: Food-insecure children face higher rates of illness and hospitalizations, alongside delays in physical, emotional, and intellectual growth.
- Future Economy: Children facing chronic hunger are less likely to graduate high school, leading to decreased career opportunities, lower lifetime earnings, and a less competitive workforce.
Bridging the Meal Gap Locally
When school is out, we step in to ensure children do not have to wonder where their next meal will come from.
- 7,000+ Children Monthly: Through our Backpack Program, we provided 97,252 backpacks to 7,171 K-12 students in 71 schools in 2025.
- 70+ Public Schools: We distribute these vital food packs—including entrees, milk, juice, fruit, and snacks—across schools in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.
- Empowering the Future: By ensuring children have adequate access to healthy food, we are helping to shape healthy development, improve school performance, and support the tri-state's future workforce.
Senior Hunger
Our region has an unusually high concentration of older adults—and tens of thousands of them are facing an invisible crisis.
- 10.7% of seniors in West Virginia and 12.0% in Kentucky are food insecure, ranking both states among the highest in the nation for senior hunger.
- 52 of 55 counties in West Virginia have a higher-than-average senior population.
- 87 of 120 counties in Kentucky have a higher-than-average senior population.
The Impossible Choices
For many seniors on a fixed income, hunger is the result of devastating daily trade-offs.
- 30% must choose between paying for food and paying for critical prescription medications.
- 35% must choose between buying food and keeping the utilities on.
- 80% of seniors manage at least one chronic health condition that requires a specialized diet.
How We Face Hunger Together
Having the money to buy food is only half the battle. Physical mobility and a lack of transportation often prevent seniors from getting what they need. That is where our programs step in.
- 17 Counties: We serve an extensive network across West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.
- 6,500 Seniors Monthly: Through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), we deliver 34-pound boxes of nutrient-rich, shelf-stable food directly to qualifying seniors every single month.
- 130,000 Neighbors: Our agency network provides nutritious food to nearly 130,000 individuals across the Tri-State area every year.
“I am a 27-year-old single mother of one girl. I am a full-time worker but I still struggle financially at times. I don’t receive child support at all due to the father being incarcerated. This is the third time we have gotten food, we greatly appreciate it. Thank you!”
– Morgan, Pantry Guest