Hunger still a problem in southeast Missouri - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

Hunger still a problem in southeast Missouri

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CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) -

New numbers show that hunger is still a major problem in southeast Missouri.

Those numbers show 17.1% percent of people in the area are food insecure.

That means more than 63,000 people don't know where their next meal is coming from.

But, unfortunately, Karen Green with the SEMO Food Bank says the numbers aren't surprising.

"What's going on in America with food insecurity is a problem, but right here in our neighborhoods, it's even worse," Green said.  "The unemployment rates are higher here, the food insecurity rates are always higher here. We live in a rural area that's very poverty stricken."

And Green says she doesn't expect those numbers to go down anytime soon because of the high unemployment rate.

"There's a lot of companies, big companies, that have three to four hundred people working there that are going to be closing," she said. "That puts a lot more people in the unemployment line, and that will also put them in the food pantry line too."

But it's not all bad news.

Green says the community is responding to the increased need with more donations, but they'll need even more to feed all those who need food.

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