In 2012, FISH Food Banks of Pierce County served 556,298 individuals, or 140,414 families in Pierce County that faced significant financial hardships, an increase of 24 percent in just one year.

Washington State Food Assistance is vitally important to meeting this growing need. For more than 15 years, Washington has wisely and strategically leveraged national resources to ensure that food stamps reach families that need it most.

However, during the recession, State Food Assistance was slashed for thousands of children growing up in immigrant families, nearly all of whom are children of color. At a time when an estimated one in …

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Re: “Charities seek help online, find it” (TNT, 12-19).

The front-page article tells how charities are finding help online in these very lean times to get volunteers and donations to feed homeless Americans. Then I read (TNT, 12-19)  that our government is getting ready to send 240,000 tons of food to North Korea. Yes, North Korea.

Perhaps we need accountability from those we have elected and sent to Washington, D.C., on why we have children and adults in the Untied States going hungry every day, yet we are going to supply food to a country that hates us. …

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Perhaps one of the positive things to come out of the recent teacher’s strike is a greater community awareness of the high levels of hunger in our community, particularly amongst children.

Contrary to the views of a recent letter writer (TNT, 9-23), a significant percentage of families are unable to provide enough food for their families. Many rely on free or reduced school meals for their children during the school year, but the need for food assistance continues over the weekend and when school is out of session.

At the St. Leo Food Connection, we try to meet this need …

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Re: “Hungry kids? TNT claim is ridiculous” (letter, 9-23).

The letter writer mentioned that it could not be true that there were hungry children in Pierce County as a result of the strike. She suggested that peanut butter and jelly “were not expensive.”

There are 795,000 residents in Pierce County. Through August, the 67 food banks in Pierce County that receive food from the Emergency Food Network have been visited by more than 833,000 clients.

With many schools having more than half of their students on free and reduced meals, school starting allows parents who rely on food banks and …

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Re: “Hungry kids? TNT claim is ridiculous” (letter, 9-23).

The letter writer needs to get out of her comfort zone and perhaps spend some time volunteering in public schools. (No, I’m not a teacher or employed by the school district. I have volunteered in schools and have no children.)

Sure, people can afford cereal, bread, milk and peanut butter, but what if the parents spend the money somewhere else because they don’t care? If the parents are inept mouth-breathers who shouldn’t have kids in the first place, which some are, why should the kids suffer by not being fed?

Most …

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Re: “Hungry kids? TNT claim is ridiculous” (letter, 9-23).

What ivory tower is this letter writer living in? Children can go hungry during a teacher strike.

Sometime cereal and peanut butter is hard to have after rent, electricity, water/sewer, etc. is paid. Before criticizing the newspaper, this letter writer needs to do some volunteer work for low-income children. One’s life experience isn’t always the same for others.

My ancestors have a saying: “Do not criticize another until you walk in his moccasins.” That’s good advice to the wise.

Hunger is a serious topic all over the world, and many people die from it every day. Research says that 14 percent of the world goes hungry every day. That’s about 49 million people without food to eat. Most people can’t even wrap their head around that big of a number, so to give you an idea, combine the populations of Washington, Oregon, California, Utah and Idaho. That’s a lot of people! Read more »

Local food banks and hot meal sites are responding to an unprecedented need for emergency food among children, adults and seniors. Food bank visits in Pierce County have increased more than 40 percent in the past year.

During the first quarter of 2010, food banks responded to more than 267,351 visits, and hot meal sites provided over 185,908 meals. Emergency food providers are struggling to keep up with the extraordinary demand for food in our community. While local food programs strive to provide food to every person who requests it, recently they have been forced to give smaller quantities of …

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