New data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows low-income Ohioans continue to have problems feeding themselves and their families.
The department says more than 16 percent of Ohio households are food-insecure because of a lack of money and other resources. The department ranks Ohio 10th in the nation for food insecurity. The data shows one-in-six Americans lived in households that were food insecure last year, virtually unchanged from 2008. Lisa Hamler-Fugitt is with the Ohio Association of Foodbanks.
Jim Weill of the Food Research and Action Center - a non-profit organization that lobbies on behalf of food stamps and other programs for low-income Americans - blames the poor economy.
Food stamp benefits will drop in November with the expiration of funding from the 2009 economic stimulus package. For a household of three, the decline will be approximately 29 dollars a month.