Report: Hunger has more than doubled in low-income areas

Between 2002 and 2005, hunger more than doubled in lowincome communities across Massachusetts because of poverty and the high cost of living, a local advocacy group told state lawmakers yesterday.

Project Bread said that hunger has risen to 18 percent, from 8 percent three years ago, posing a public health concern because it can lead to obesity and diabetes.

"Hunger in Massachusetts is not caused by a food shortage," said Andrew Schiff , the group's assistant director. "We have plenty of food for everyone. The problem is the combination of poverty and the high cost of living."

Schiff said statewide statistics tend to overlook pockets of poverty. In those 35 cities and towns with higher concentrations of hunger -- including Boston, Lynn, Springfield, and Worcester -- its prevalence is six times greater than the state average and one out of every three children lives in a family that struggles to provide food, the report states.

Poor families are not earning enough to handle both increased heating and food costs, and they economize by skipping meals or buying inexpensive foods that are filling, but high in sugar and fat, said Ellen Parker, executive director of Project Bread.

The group called for a statewide Campaign to End Hunger with a collaboration of businesses, healthcare providers, governments, and schools. It also urged legislators to provide nutritional breakfasts to 35,000 more students and to make it easier for families to get food stamps.

Parker suggested that the families of children who receive free school breakfasts should be automatically eligible for food stamps.

State Representative Cory Atkins , who serves on the Joint Committee on Children and Families, said that in the next legislative session, the issue of hunger "will not go unattended."

"I'm appalled," Atkins said. "First of all, in Massachusetts, in the United states of America, this should be a zero-tolerance issue. We have the resources to make sure that every child in this Commonwealth is fed."

April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com