COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — An estimated 728,000 Missouri residents received help from emergency food banks last year.
That's one of the key findings of a recently released survey by Feeding America and the Missouri Food Bank Association.
The study found that about 139,000 people are receiving food aid in any given week. And children younger than 18 comprise about 39 percent of the members of households receiving aid.
The Missouri figures are based on written questionnaires and in-person interviews with food aid recipients as part of a national survey.
Missouri Food Bank Association director Scott Baker says it shows that hunger is an increasingly pervasive problem in Missouri.
