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Going the Extra Mile
Fifth Annual Hunger Walk Raises Awareness in Eastern Kentucky
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hristian Appalachian Project’s (CAP) Grateful Bread Food Pantry brought together staff, volunteers, community members, and Rockcastle County Schools to bring awareness to hunger-related issues in Appalachia at its 5th Annual Hunger Walk on September 14. This year, more than 600 walkers participated and the pantry collected 1,267.5 pounds of food, which will provide 25 families with supplemental food for a month. “Our community is not immune from hunger issues,” explains Carolyn Lindsey, manager of the Grateful Bread Food Pantry. “In Rockcastle County last month, we served 921 families. That is 1,748 adults and children in our community who needed help.” In fact, hunger and food insecurity issues exist in every community in the United States. More than 48 million Americans lived in food insecure households in 2014. That means that 15.3 million children under the age of 18 in the United States live in households where they are unable to consistently access enough nutritious food to maintain a healthy life. Families in Kentucky face a disproportionately high rate of food insecurity in comparison to the rest of the country.
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“I know that many of us here today are blessed to have access to food around the clock. However, that is not the case for all people living in Eastern Kentucky,” says Kerrigan Medley, a student at Rockcastle County Middle School, who addressed the crowd. “These are more than just numbers. They are the kids with whom we go to school, the people we see at church, our neighbors. These are people in our community who we see every day.”
“These are more than just numbers. They are the kids with whom we go to school, the people we see at church, our neighbors.” The food insecurity rate in CAP’s service region is 19.7%, which means that many children and individuals live in households where they are not guaranteed their
