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Recognizing and Declaring Friday, October 16, 2015 as World Food Day in Philadelphia, a day of action against hunger, where people work together to eradicate hunger worldwide.
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WHEREAS, World Food Day was created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on October 16, 1945 in Quebec, Canada and since then has been recognized in almost every country by millions of people who through community action and awareness fight to eradicate hunger; and
WHEREAS, In a world of plenty, 805 million people, one in nine individuals, live with chronic hunger with the costs of hunger and malnutrition falling heavily on the most vulnerable. Sixty percent of the hungry in the world are women. Almost 5 million children under the age of 5 die of malnutrition-related causes every year. It is estimated that hunger kills more people every year than malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined; and
WHEREAS, In America, the US Department of Agriculture estimated in 2013 that one in seven Americans (14.3%) did not have enough to eat; and
WHEREAS, Nearly 1 in 4 people in Philadelphia are poor, double the rates experienced at both the national and state levels, with more than one-third of all children in Philadelphia living in poverty. In April 2014, 475,890 individuals or 31% of Philadelphians received SNAP (food stamp) assistance; and
WHEREAS, Hungry people are 30% more likely to be hospitalized and require longer in-patient stays, twice as likely to need mental health services and are at higher risk for obesity, because healthy, fresh foods usually cost more than high-calorie options, like chips and soda. Low-income neighborhoods often lack supermarkets, so residents rely on limited grocery selections at local convenience or corner stores; and
WHEREAS, Hungry children are 60% more likely to miss school, 50% more likely to repeat a grade, twice as likely to be suspended from school and twice as likely to require special education; and
WHEREAS, Hunger costs the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania $3.25 billion every year, inluding $2.4 billion for medical and mental health care due to increases in illness and psychosocial dysfunction, $330 million in lost educational achievement and worker productivity and $517 million in costs for charities that work to relieve hunger; and
WHEREAS, While every year one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption, approximately 1.3 billion tons, is lost or wasted, recycling of food-waste has been gaining traction in grocery stores worldwide. Here in Philadelphia, for example, Brown’s Super Stores, which began food-recycling in 2012, has sent 180 tons of unspoiled food to local food banks; and
WHEREAS, Policymakers, hunger advocates and the public must work together to find sustainable solutions to hunger and poverty in Philadelphia; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby recognizes and declares Friday, October 16, 2015 as World Food Day in Philadelphia, a day of action against hunger, where people work together to eradicate hunger worldwide.
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