When you think about hunger in the United States, what comes to mind?

Is it an image of homelessness? Drug use? Alcoholism?

What if you knew that hunger is a reality that affects millions of Americans and that most of them are people very similar to you and your neighbors?

Would you think differently about the challenges they and their families face?

The reality is that 49 million people face hunger each year in the United States. Of those millions, nearly 17 million are children. That’s one in six of every American citizen and, worse yet, one in four children. They are children and families who can’t reach their full potential because they don’t have the nourishment they need.

Many American families are choosing between paying their rent or mortgage and buying groceries. In other cases, they have to choose between buying gas to get to work or putting a meal on the table for their family. For the elderly or those with chronic illnesses, it can mean choosing between buying much needed prescription medicine and going to the grocery store.

Whether you’re young, old, married, single, have children or not, these are incredibly difficult choices to face.

To help those who are facing these choices, we partner with Feeding America . The services and assistance provided by Feeding America can make all the difference in the world. We’re proud to partner with Feeding America. To learn more about their work, check out the video below and their website.

I’m proud to say that, over the next several years, our partnership with Feeding America will help create even more new programs and services for those in need, and will help build a stronger community of people passionate about fighting child hunger.

The above post was originally published on April 22, 2010.