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.

Yvonne M. Vissing is a sociology professor at Salem State College in Salem, Mass. She is the author of Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Homeless Children and Families in Small-Town America and can speak about the spiritual lives of homeless children.

The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation that aims to promote a high performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, minority Americans, young children and elderly adults. Contact Mary Mahon or Bethanne Fox.

The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) is a non-profit child advocacy organization that champions policies and programs that lift children out of poverty; protect them from abuse and neglect; and ensure their access to health care, quality education and a moral and spiritual foundation. The CDF often works closely with faith-based organizations to reach their goals.

The Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies is an association of over 100 Jewish family and child welfare organizations in the U.S. and Canada. Megan Manelli is the director of communications and marketing.