Have the number of people needing food assistance increased or decreased recently? Why?
Comparing the first six months of 2009 with the first six months of 2008, the number of households served by food pantries in Tarrant Area Food Bank’s 13-county service region increased 20 percent. In this region, approximately one in five children and one in seven of all residents face hunger at some time during the year. Rising food and energy prices beginning in 2005 along with the financial and housing crisis of 2008-09 played the dominant role in pushing more families and individuals toward poverty and hunger.