BY ALFRED LUBRANO

Pennsylvania's First Congressional District - which includes Chester, South Philadelphia, and parts of North Philadelphia - is among the hungriest in the nation, according to a report released yesterday.

The district, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, is second only to the 16th District in the Bronx, N.Y., for so-called "food hardship," as measured by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), a national nonprofit in Washington whose aim is to eradicate hunger. FRAC defines food hardship as the lack of money to buy enough food to satisfy a family's needs.

Using data from a survey of more than 500,000 Americans between January 2008 and December 2009, FRAC learned that more than 36 percent of households in the First District answered "yes" to the question, "Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?"

In the United States as a whole, 18.5 percent of households polled in the last quarter of 2009 answered yes, meaning that food hardship in the First District was at nearly twice the national level.

Overall in the United States, the food-hardship rate was even worse for households with children. Nearly one in four such families suffered food hardship in 2009.

In an e-mailed statement, Brady responded last night to the FRAC report: "This report is deeply troubling. But there is a direct correlation between food hardship, the economy, and the loss of jobs. The country is in the grip of the worst economic crisis in recent history. Since the start of the recession over a year ago, increasing unemployment rates and job losses have been a priority concern nationally.

"And, for people who are living on the economic edge in the First Congressional District, this period of economic crisis is devastating. Everyday, I work as hard as I can to introduce, pass, and support legislation that will create and save jobs."

For Tianna Gaines, a 30-year-old single mother of three children under 6 living on public assistance in North Philadelphia, hunger is a nearly constant companion.

"Things get tight at the end of the month, and sometimes I don't eat so my kids can," she said. "We call going to the supermarket the 'golden chore,' because it isn't easy getting the right foods to eat.

"The hardship of living without food is figuring out where it's going to come from."

Read the full article.