An annual report on food instability shows a slight dip in the percentage of Kentuckians wrestling with ongoing hunger.
The study by the non-profit Feeding America puts the state’s overall food insecurity rate at 16 percent, down from 17 percent last year.
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Kentucky Association of Food Banks Director Tamara Sandberg hopes the drop is a demonstration of progress against hunger in the Commonwealth.
She says it doesn’t mean more donations are coming in. “Food banks are still running out of food before they run out of people coming to them for help, so it’s not necessarily that people are donating more,” said Sandberg. “We’re trying to do a better job of connecting what would have been going to the dump, having that go to food banks instead.”
Sandberg says the new food donor immunity law helps in that regard. She says it provides liability protection for retailers who donate past-dated food products. Sandberg says the Kentucky law is stronger than a similar federal statute.
Sandberg says public-private partnerships in fighting hunger are strong in Kentucky. She says farmers, members of the business community, elected officials, and non-profit leaders have been pulling together to coordinate their efforts
