OASHF Press Release 9/16/2010

The number of employed Americans dropped by over 8 million when comparing the nation’s workforce in early 2008 to the same workforce in late 2009. More alarming and showing the correlation between the national recession, long-term unemployment and poverty is the fact that 61 percent of those jobs were lost before the Recovery Act was enacted in February 2009.

For the state of Ohio, the numbers are dismal, but this is not new news for our state’s emergency food network. “Though alarming, these numbers are not one bit surprising,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks. “In 2009, more than 1.430 million different Ohioans turned to the state’s emergency food network to supplement their everyday nutritional needs. The statewide hunger study, Hunger in Ohio 2010 gave us a real sense of what the forecast looked like for Ohio and it was not good. The Census Bureau’s data backs the same projection that Hunger in Ohio gave us, which is that more and more people need our help, which is why it is crucial for our network to be stronger today than ever.”

See the full press release