Number of seniors facing the threat of hunger is increasing: Study

Nov 21 2009

The Meals On Wheels Association of America (MOWAA) unveiled a national senior hunger study, underwritten by the Harrah's Foundation. Developed as an extension of the study originally presented in 2008, this state-by-state analysis of senior hunger revealed that the number of seniors facing the threat of hunger is increasing with seniors in the South experiencing the greatest risk of going hungry. After the study was presented to the Hunger Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, MOWAA dedicated their volunteer institute within the National Center for Nutrition Leadership, "The Harrah's Institute for Volunteer Management."

"Hunger is a disease, but we have the cure to end senior hunger today. We just need the leadership and the courage to get it done," said Enid A. Borden, president and CEO of Meals On Wheels Association of America. "After the seven years of unwavering support that the Harrah's Foundation has shown our organization, it is only fitting we honor their Foundation by naming our volunteer institute after their generous foundation."

"Harrah's underwrote this important research to understand the causes and the extent of senior hunger; this provides us the knowledge to work together with Meals On Wheels and other corporate partners to solve this very curable disease in our lifetime," said Jan Jones, senior vice president of government affairs and communications, Harrah's Entertainment and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Harrah's Foundation. "It is important to Harrah's to maintain our support of community organizations that improve the quality of life for seniors in our communities and across the nation."

The study -- entitled "Senior Hunger in the United States, Differences across States and Rural and Urban Areas" -- was commissioned by MOWAA and conducted by James Ziliak, Ph.D., director of the Center for Poverty Research of the University of Kentucky and Craig Gundersen, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, and was developed as a follow up to last year's study, "The Causes, Consequences and Future of Senior Hunger in America."

The study found:

-- Senior hunger is rising, six million seniors are hungry; -- Poverty is a factor in senior hunger, however 62% of at risk seniors are ABOVE the poverty line; -- Although each state has at risk seniors, the bottom ten states with the most at risk seniors include (in order from highest to lowest risk): Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina and Oklahoma.

Since 2002, Harrah's has been the largest corporate sponsor of MOWAA, contributing more than $5 million and more than 38 meal-deliver trucks to MOWAA programs across the country.