We regularly fund more than 25 organizations working to alleviate hunger. Incorporated in 1979, Second Harvest is now the largest charitable hunger-relief organization in the United States, distributing more than one billion pounds of donated surplus food and grocery products each year to 26 million hungry people in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Nearly half of those people are children. To strengthen the fight against hunger, executives in the U.S. food industry formed the Food Industry Crusade Against Hunger in 1985. The Food Industry Crusade Against Hunger works to create solutions to hunger and malnutrition, focusing on programs that empower people to help themselves.
Hungry children are up to three times more likely than others to have health problems.
To combat hunger, the Food Research and Action Center was founded in 1970 in Washington, D.C. to monitor and improve the federal government's response to poverty and hunger. The Food Research and Action Center also serves as a watchdog group to provide leadership and support to a nationwide anti-hunger network of grassroots organizations. The Greater Chicago Food Depository helps distribute food products to hungry people, at the same time giving food businesses a convenient, reliable, safe way to channel edible surplus or unmarketable food to hungry people in the greater Chicago area. The group solicits, obtains, and distributes donated and purchased foods and supports more than 300,000 people through 500 emergency feeding programs, the largest category being families with children under 17 years old. Each year, the depository delivers close to 23 million pounds of food, including 10,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables each day.