Every four years, the Eastern Illinois Foodbank participates in a national hunger study in conjunction with Feeding America. The most recent study, Map the Meal Gap, documents the extent of hunger in our region, in the state and in the nation and helps guide policy discussions and affect change.
Key Findings For Our Communities:
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There are more than 134,000 food insecure individuals living in Eastern Illinois Foodbank's service area.
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Overall food insecurity rates for eastern Illinois vary from 9.8% in Piatt & Woodford Counties to 16.1% in Coles County.
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12.3% of people living in Eastern Illinois Foodbank's service area face food insecurity, which is higher than the percentage of food-insecure individuals in Illinois as a whole.
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The national food budget shortfall, which reflects the extra money that people who are food insecure report needing to cover their food needs, has hit a record high of $33.1 billion, up nearly 43% from the previous year. This translates to $24.73 a week per person, on average.
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At 23%, Vermilion County has the highest child food insecurity rate in eastern Illinois.
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The national average cost per meal has increased to $3.99, marking a nearly 3% increase compared to the prior year and reaching its highest point in the last two decades, even after adjusting for inflation.
Feeding America has published the Map the Meal Gap project since 2011, thanks to the support of The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Nielsen, and the Conagra
Brands Foundation, to learn more about the face of hunger at the local level.
