Central PA Food Bank Hunger Mapping Report Examines Food Insecurity in Centre County

This story originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette. BELLEFONTE — Food insecurity is on the rise across the United States, and according to a report from a major regional food bank, Centre County is far from excluded in that statistic. Central Pennsylvania Food Bank presented their final Centre County community hunger mapping report last Wednesday at the American Philatelic Society in Bellefonte, and its findings showed that food insecurity impacts “just under 20,000,” or 12.5%, of the county’s residents — one in every eight people — and a rise of around 40% from 2021 insecurity levels. The report also shared that one in every six children — more than 3,500, or 15.4% of the county’s children — lacked consistent and reliable access to the food they need to live a healthy lifestyle, and that food insecurity is most often faced by people living in the county’s most populated areas. “We have found that these reports have been incredibly helpful at galvanizing community