Saturday, February 14, 2009

Hungry Australia

The below figures from FoodBank are stunning. And remember, this is the state of poverty and hunger in Australia today, before a few hundred thousand people lose their jobs in the next two years :
* The aged, 'singles' and the 'working poor' have become the new battlers in Australia
* 13% of Australian adults and 15% of children live in poverty, and the numbers are growing.
* 2.4 million Australians don't have enough money to take care of basic needs such as housing, clothing and food.
* 15% of Australian children live in jobless households and this figure has increased by 30% in the last 20 years.
* In Australia over a million children don't get enough to eat.
* Two million Australians rely on food relief every year and half of them are children.
* These one million children often go to school without breakfast, or to bed without dinner.

If you're not growing some of your own food - in your backyard, in your frontyard, on your balcony, on your window sills - you are not being responsible for yourself, or your family.

The losses of fruit and vegetable crops in the Victorian fires and North Queensland floods this past week are expected to be monumental.