The Kentucky Department of Agriculture joined with God's Pantry Food Bank to mark National Hunger Awareness Day June 7 with an event at the Black and Williams Community Center in Lexington.  KDA's Rodger Bingham presented a check which will allow God's Pantry to purchase locally grown, raised or processed food for the food bank's Kid's Cafes, which provide free meals for children in need.  KDA works with food banks across the state to fight hunger in Kentucky with a number of programs.  Here, youth drummers perform for those gathered for June 7th's event at the Black and Williams Center.  (Photo by Leewood Pugh.)

Visit KDA's Food Distribution branch here.

Some facts about hunger:

**USDA estimates that an average of 11.2% of Kentucky households were "food insecure" sometime during the year in the years 2001, 2002 and 2003.  This means the family had limited access to enough nutritious food to provide a healthy life.   The national average was 11%.

**USDA estimates that in 2003, 3.3% of Kentucky's househlds experienced involuntary hunger caused by not having enough money to afford enough food sometime during the previous 12 months.   The national average over the same period was 3.4%.

**According to America's Second Harvest , in 2001, 39% of America's emergency food recipient households included at least one adult who worked fulltime. 

**KDA provides support for food banks, such as Dare to Care in Louisville and God's Pantry in Lexington, including financial aid that allows them to buy fresh, local food.  KDA also administers several food security programs, including the Kentucky Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, and the Emergency Food Assistance Program.