The number of people receiving food stamps was expected to hit record levels in 2008, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office, according to a March 31, 2008, New York Times story.

The Sodexo Foundation released a report in June 2007 that found that the U.S. pays $90 billion a year – or $800 per household – directly or indirectly for the effects of hunger (hunger-related charities, illness and psychosocial dysfunction and the impact of less education/lower productivity).

Feeding America and National Foundation to End Senior Hunger published a report in 2011 and reveals that the number of food insecure seniors above the age of 60 has more than doubled to 4.8 million from 2001 to 2011.

The Hunger Almanac is published by Feeding America, the country’s largest charitable hunger-relief organization, distributes food to food banks. It lists key facts and updates about the state of hunger in America.

The USDA’s Economic Research Service is a treasure house of authoritative statistics. It does an annual survey of “food insecurity” in the U.S. to track trends and economic and geographic characteristics of households experiencing hunger.

Read a Feb. 13, 2013, Philadelphia Inquirer story about President Obama’s pledge to end childhood hunger by 2015 and his progress.

Read a Sept. 19, 2009, New York Times story, “So Much Food. So Much Hunger,” about the persistence of hunger in the world — affecting a billion people, the United Nations estimates — even though the world produces enough food to feed everyone.

Read a June 27, 2013, page about President Barack Obama’s plan to fight hunger in sub-Saharan Africa.

Read a Nov. 2, 2009, USA Today article about a study showing that half of all American children will live in a household that gets food stamps at some point in their childhood.