See how this event helps Pennypack Farm offer fresh, affordable produce to low-income families in Philadelphia.

Watch the video on PHL17.com. 

By Emily Kovach

WMMR's Markus Goldman interviews Coalition interim director Julie Zaebst about the Walk+Run Against Hunger.

Hear the interview.

By Juliana Reyes / STAFF WRITER

Twenty-two percent of Philadelphians are “food insecure,” meaning they at times lack access to enough food for a “healthy, active life,” according to a recent report from the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger. That’s the highest rate of food insecurity across the whole state.

Visualize that statistic and compare other counties’ hunger statistics (like the number of food stamp, or SNAP, participants and more) with this interactive map from the Coalition.

By James McGinnis Staff writer

Wall Street is back on track, but that hasn’t helped put food on the table for an estimated 86,926 Bucks and Montgomery county residents still on food stamps, according to latest report from the Coalition Against Hunger.

One in 17 Bucks and Montgomery county residents receives nutritional assistance from the government, according to latest State of Hunger: Pennsylvania report released Friday.

The number of locals on food stamps edged up slightly, with 37,965 Bucks residents in the program — an increase of 355 over the prior year.

Naomi Creason
City Editor

A new report on statewide participation in the food stamps program says Cumberland County has the highest percentage-increase in the program, though area officials note the county is still in good shape compared to the rest of the state.

By Shannon McDonald

Philadelphia has a 22 percent "food insecurity" rate.

That number is 13.7 in Delaware County, 9.7 in Chester County, 10.5 in Montgomery County and 10.1 in Bucks County, and represents the amount of people who have trouble accessing food and meeting the healthy diet standards of the USDA. The figures are part of the Coalition Against Hunger's "State of Hunger: Pennsylvania 2013" report, which evaluates food needs and access by county, and looks at the number of people getting food assistance in the state.

It is unconscionable that Philadelphia has more people in what's called deep poverty than any other city among the nation's 10 largest.

Almost 13 percent of city residents earn less than $5,700 a year for individuals, or $11,700 for a family of four, according to an analysis by The Inquirer and Temple University sociologist David Elesh. Poverty-line earners are paid twice as much, making these 200,000 Philadelphians the poorest of the poor.

A FOOD STAMP is not an actual stamp. It's a plastic ATM-like card loaded with a dollar value of, on average, $66 a week.

A food stamp is also a litmus test that divides two groups: those who see food stamps as a government handout to lazy BMW-driving scamsters, and those who see food stamps as a critical helping hand to the vulnerable. If you actually get food stamps, your view is much simpler: They may be the difference between eating and starving.

Alfred Lubrano, Inquirer Staff Writer

Philadelphia has the highest rate of deep poverty - people with incomes below half of the poverty line - of any of the nation's 10 most populous cities.

The annual salary for a single person at half the poverty line is around $5,700; for a family of four, it's around $11,700.

Philadelphia's deep-poverty rate is 12.9 percent, or around 200,000 people.

Phoenix, Chicago, and Dallas are the nearest to Philadelphia, with deep-poverty rates of more than 10 percent.