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Millions of Americans go hungry as the pandemic destroys lives
By Martha C. White
NBC News
As jobs vanish, incomes drop and food prices rise, more Americans are going to bed hungry — and advocates warn that without intervention from Congress, those numbers could rise to a level unseen in modern times.
“People who never thought they’d experience food insecurity are now seeking food assistance,” said Luis Guardia, president of the nonprofit Food Research & Action Center.
A study from Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Studies found that the pandemic roughly doubled food insecurity in the United States. Food assistance nonprofit Feeding America estimates that with household finances decimated by the coronavirus, around 40 percent of people visiting food banks are first-time recipients of food assistance.
