Page 29 - Annual Report 2017

Nationwide, there are nearly 13,200 school districts. Of those, there are 2,771 with more
than 25,000 children attending them - the poverty rate for those schools ranged from
52.45% to 1.84%.

Here’s how our communities compared against the rest of the country and CA.

· Merced City Elementary ranked 44th at 42.05% (the 4th highest in CA)
· Atwater Elementary ranked 131st at 36.45% (15th highest in CA)
· Los Banos Unified ranked 174th at 34.76% (22nd highest in CA)
· Merced Union High School ranked 246th at 32.43% (29th highest in CA)

In summary, both our elementary aged children and our children in high school
are experiencing poverty rates higher than 90% of their peers – with over 1 in 3
school-aged children experiencing poverty – which goes hand-in-hand with hunger.

Lack of access to nutritious, affordable foods, is a major contributor to
obesity, diabetes and other diet-related diseases in our community – other areas we
also lead the state in.

Despite living in the 5th most productive agricultural county in the nation, more than
95,000 children and adults live in communities where a healthy diet is simply out of
reach.

MCFB serves as a lifeline for our communities. As the agency that acquires, stores, and
distributes food, we play a critical role in maintaining and improving the health of our
community's low income, and food insecure populations.

In order to carry out our mission, we need the continued support of our community.

We ask that as you consider your donations this year, that MCFB be included in your
charitable giving in 2018 and beyond.