Oklahoma Ranks High In Hunger

Monday, December 10th 2007, 6:48 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Even as charities increase the amount of food they give away in Oklahoma, hunger continues to be an issue for some people in the state. A study released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture ranked Oklahoma fifth worst in the nation in the level of food insecurity in households statewide between 2004 and 2006.

The USDA report said 14.6% of Oklahoma's 1.4 million households experience food insecurity, meaning that at times these households lacked sufficient food.

A spokeswoman says The Salvation Army's Oklahoma City food pantry gave away 28,000 bags of food during the 2007 fiscal year. That number was up by one-third over last year, but still not enough.

In October alone, the pantry closed four times because it had run out of food because of high demand.