In response to a devastating tornado in April, we expedited the delivery of Oklahoma’s truckload to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.  We choose actions over words at the time.  Now that we’ve finished delivering the other trucks, we wanted to end this “Hunger in…” series, with Oklahoma’s story of what hunger looks like their state and showcase the good work of volunteers and donors.

“Due to the recent changes in the economy, we have seen more middle-class families seeking out assistance. For example, a middle-class family of six came in for assistance. The mother was employed as a LPN and the father who had been employed as an airplane mechanic was recently laid off unexpectedly. The family had depleted all of their savings and the mother sought out food assistance. The mother was very grateful for the amount of food that we were able to assist her family with.” – Partner Agency

More than 500,000 Oklahomans struggle with hunger on a daily basis. Without the support of corporate partners like Tyson Foods, organizations like the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma would not have the resources to keep up with the growing demand. Both food banks have seen significant increases in food distribution over the last year and know that there are still people who are going without.

We have seen the face of hunger change over the last several years. No longer is it strictly the unemployed. More often than not, it’s the working poor or the newly unemployed. Families are working multiple jobs just to make ends meet and keep food on the table. Senior citizens living on fixed incomes have to decide between paying for prescription medicine or buying groceries. Children are rushing the lunch line at school on Monday after surviving another weekend with little or no food at home.

When a teacher at a local elementary school recently asked her students what they had for dinner the night before, one little girl responded that she hadn’t eaten dinner last night because it wasn’t her “turn.” She and her siblings actually take turns eating dinner in order to have enough food to last the week.

The Oklahoma Food Bank Network provides enough food to feed more than 137,000 people each week through a network of more than 1,150 partner agencies and elementary schools throughout the state – and yet it is still not enough. More than 12,700 chronically hungry elementary school children are receiving a backpack filled with nutritious, kid-friendly food to sustain them over weekends and holidays when school meal programs are not available.

The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma are the largest private hunger-relief organizations in the state. The Food Banks are by far the single most important source of food for most Oklahoma hunger relief agencies – accounting for 65% of the food used by food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency shelters. Together they help feed the more than 500,000 Oklahomans who struggle with hunger every day, including one in five of all children in the state.

Tyson Foods, through wecanendthis.com, has demonstrated how people united by a common cause can make a difference. Together we can continue “Fighting Hunger…Feeding Hope” in Oklahoma and across the country.