In November of 2001 America's Second Harvest released its third and most comprehensive study of hunger in the United States: Hunger in America 2001. The following are some key findings of the study regarding children our country:

• Over 9 million children are the recipients of food from either a pantry, kitchen or shelter within the network of America's Second Harvest.

• Among all members of client households, 9.1% of pantry recipients are ages 0 to 5; 7.7% are shelter clients.

• 75.7% of all client households with children under the age of 18 are food insecure; an estimated 2.6 million households.

• Among all members of client households, 18.4% of kitchen clients stated that their child/children had skipped meals within the last 12 months because there wasn't enough money for food.

• 22.2% of shelter clients indicated that their child/children was/were hungry at least once during the previous 12 months but couldn't afford more food.

• 26.3% of all client households stated that their child/children were sometimes or often not eating enough during the previous 12 months because they just couldn't afford enough food; an estimated 0.9 million households.

• Among all client households with at least one child under the age of 18; 63.2% utilize the school lunch program and 49.9% the school breakfast program.

• 52.5% of all client households with at least one child age 0 to 5 are enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); an increase from 31% in 1997.

• 61.9% of agencies run feeding programs that target children only: Kids Cafes, youth after-school programs, child day care programs, and summer camps for low-income clients.

• 46.2% of pantry programs indicated there are "many more children in the summer," while 68.2% of kitchen programs indicated an increase during the same time of year.