SEACAA

Each September, the Feeding America network leads Hunger Action Month, a nationwide campaign that raises awareness about food insecurity and encourages individuals, organizations, businesses, and communities to take meaningful action to help end hunger. The campaign began in 2007, and in 2026 Feeding America is marking its 19th year.

This year’s message is especially urgent. According to Feeding America’s latest Map the Meal Gap 2026 research, approximately 48 million people in the United States, including more than 14 million children, experienced food insecurity in 2024. Feeding America reports that this is the highest level since 2014.

Food insecurity does not describe a lack of effort. It affects working parents managing rising grocery, housing, energy, transportation, and healthcare costs; older adults living on fixed incomes; children whose nutrition can influence their health and ability to learn; and families navigating unexpected financial setbacks. In many households, difficult trade-offs between food and other basic necessities are part of everyday life.

Hunger in Mississippi

The challenge remains particularly severe in Mississippi. Mississippi Food Network currently reports that almost 1 in 5 Mississippians—approximately 345,000 people—do not have enough to eat, while more than 1 in 4 children experience hunger. The organization also notes that approximately 1 in 8 Mississippi seniors experiences regular food shortfalls.

Within Mississippi Food Network’s 56-county service area, its 2023–2024 annual report identified 319,090 food-insecure individuals, representing 18.2% of the population, and 104,020 food-insecure children, representing 25.4% of children.

These figures illustrate why hunger must be addressed as both an immediate need and a broader community-development issue. Reliable access to nutritious food supports children’s learning, seniors’ health, workforce participation, family stability, and long-term economic mobility.

Hunger Is a Regional Community Action Issue

Across the Southeast, Community Action Agencies regularly see how hunger intersects with poverty, housing instability, energy burden, transportation barriers, limited healthcare access, and employment challenges.

A household seeking food assistance may also be behind on utilities. A senior struggling to purchase groceries may also need transportation to medical appointments. A parent may be employed but still face difficult choices between rent, childcare, medicine, and food.

That is why Community Action’s whole-family approach is so important. Addressing hunger effectively often means connecting families not only with food resources, but also with services that improve household stability and economic opportunity.

Why Hunger Action Month Matters

Hunger Action Month moves the conversation beyond statistics and toward participation. Feeding America identifies volunteering, advocacy, and donating among the key ways individuals can become involved.

Communities can make an impact by supporting local food banks and pantries, volunteering to pack or distribute food, advocating for effective nutrition and anti-poverty programs, organizing food or fundraising drives, and sharing accurate information about hunger to reduce stigma.

Organizations can also build stronger partnerships between Community Action Agencies, schools, healthcare providers, employers, faith communities, local governments, and food-security organizations.

From Emergency Food to Long-Term Stability

Providing food to someone who needs it today is essential. Ending hunger, however, also requires addressing the conditions that repeatedly place households at risk.

That includes improving access to living-wage employment, affordable housing, transportation, healthcare, childcare, education, energy assistance, and federal nutrition programs. It also means ensuring that rural and underserved communities have reliable access to nutritious food.

Mississippi Food Network, for example, operates Molly’s Mobile Market, a refrigerated mobile grocery initiative designed to bring fresh and affordable foods directly into rural and underserved communities where conventional grocery access may be limited.

Programs like these demonstrate how communities can pair immediate hunger relief with innovative solutions to food-access barriers.

Join the Movement

SEACAA and the Community Action Association of Alabama stand with Community Action Agencies, food banks, community partners, and families throughout the Southeast working toward communities where everyone has access to enough nutritious food to thrive.

This September, Hunger Action Month provides an opportunity for each of us to do something meaningful.

Donate. Volunteer. Advocate. Educate. Partner.

Wear orange to help raise awareness. Share reliable information about food insecurity. Support organizations serving your community. Learn more about the challenges families face—and help elevate solutions that strengthen economic security.

Because hunger is not simply a food issue. It is a health issue, an education issue, an economic opportunity issue, and a community issue.

And when communities act together, they can create lasting change.

Together, we can help build a future where every child, senior, and family has reliable access to the food they need to live, learn, work, and thrive.

Updated Social Media Post

🧡 September is Hunger Action Month.

Across America, approximately 48 million people—including more than 14 million children—experienced food insecurity in 2024. In Mississippi, almost 1 in 5 residents face hunger, and more than 1 in 4 children are affected.

Hunger Action Month reminds us that awareness must lead to action.

You can help by donating to a local food bank, volunteering, advocating for stronger nutrition and anti-poverty programs, and sharing information that helps reduce stigma.

Community Action Agencies work every day to address the interconnected challenges of hunger, poverty, housing, employment, energy burden, and family stability.

This September: wear orange, lend your voice, and take action.

#HungerActionMonth #EndHunger #CommunityAction #SEACAA #CAAAlabama #FoodSecurity #StrongerCommunities