Important Statistics on Childhood Hunger in the U.S. In 2000, 13 million children lived in households that did not have an adequate supply of food, and almost 3 million of these children lived in households that experienced hunger. — U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, March 2002 "Household Food Security in the United States, 2000" Between 2000 and 2001, requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 23% in American cities, with 54% of requests coming from families with children. — U.S. Conference of Mayors, December 2001, "A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in American Cities, 2001" More than 23 million low-income people received emergency food assistance through the America's Second Harvest Food Network in 2001, including 9 million children (39% of all recipients and 1 in 10 children in America. — America's Second Harvest, November 2001, "Hunger in America, 2001" 33 million Americans continue to live in households that did not have an adequate supply of food. Nearly one-third of these households contain adults or children who went hungry at some point in 2000. — U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, March 2002, "Household Food Security in the United States, 2000" Recent research indicates that even mild under-nutrition experienced by young children during critical periods of growth may lead to reductions in physical growth and impaired brain function. — Center on Hunger and Poverty, Brandeis University, 1998, "The Link Between Nutritoin and Cognitive Development in Children"