Food Insecurity Central Illinois

In the area of Bloomington-Normal, Child Hunger affects thousands of children due to their families having insufficient money to buy proper food to meet their nutritional needs. Hunger is normally addressed by private and public food aid provisions. There are defining reasons as to why it exists locally based on universal definition.

Hunger

Hunger is when an individual does not have the financial means to obtain sufficient food to meet maintain nutritional needs for a sustained period.

Food Insecurity

Food Insecurity is defined at a household level and is determined based on the inadequacies of food per household member based on finances. There are four levels to Food Insecurity; the first is High Food Insecurity, the second moderate Food Insecurity, the third is Low Food Insecurity, and finally the fourth is Very Low Food Insecurity. These are based on how many food insecure conditions there are in a household. Conditions can include but are not limited to: the worry of running out of food, food not lasting, bad diets, not eating for a whole day or days in a row, and even unintended weight loss. Food Insecurity is related to poverty but not mutually-exclusive. The less of these conditions existing in a household, the higher the security.

Numbers

In Bloomington, there are approximately 3,400 children in households that experience hunger or do not get proper nutrition they need.

Health Consequences

There are studies that have shown that children that do not meet proper nutritional needs as much as children that do not experience hunger do not develop as well. Children that do not get the proper nutrients regularly while growing up can experience obesity or diabetes. It has also shown that they can develop poorer immune systems and have vitamin deficiencies.