In the News ... "PERRYMAN: Food bank networks offer economic benefits"

• Enormous social costs of hunger could be virtually eliminated

By Dr. M. Ray Perryman, Columnist
Odessa American

ODESSA, TEXAS - While it perhaps should not be necessary to suggest solving pressing human and social concerns for pecuniary interests, the evidence is both persuasive and overwhelming.

As noted in last week’s column, we recently studied economic aspects of hunger. The cost of hunger (when measured comprehensively) includes 2.5 million U.S. jobs on an ongoing basis, with the long-term consequences of a single year of hunger in America being in the trillions of dollars in lost business activity.

A second major economic aspect of hunger that we analyzed is the economic stimulus provided by the nation’s network of food banks and the charitable distribution operations they facilitate ...

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