What's the best way to feed 35m hungry Americans?

On Superbowl Sunday, when, in addition to watching football, we celebrate American excess and consumerism, the Washington Post has a must-read article on how to combat record hunger in the 21st century U.S. A new generation of anti-hunger activists argue that the charitable tradition of soup kitchens and food banks, which provide hot meals and groceries, respectively, is insufficient in meeting today's demand, especially for the low-income families headed by working mothers who make up a larger percentage of hungry Americans than homeless individuals in cities.  Our current system reaches this latter population much more easily than these working poor families.  Activists in cities like Austin and D.C. are demonstrating new ways to deliver food to people in their homes, including in hard to reach rural neighborhoods.  They are also calling for greater investment in food stamps - highlighting our unfulfilled national, moral obligation to end hunger in the wealthiest country on earth.

"The first generation of soup kitchens are getting to the point of outgrowing their kitchens and thinking they have to build new multimillion-dollar facilities," said Robert Egger, president of D.C. Central Kitchen and a nationally recognized anti-hunger activist. "And we're saying, 'We need to be adapting to future needs, not building the same things but bigger.' [snip]

Operating soup kitchens during traditional business hours shuts out a large group of hungry people. About 30 percent of households headed by single mothers reported going without food at least occasionally in 2007, almost four times the rate for single people, according to Feeding America, an umbrella group for 200 food banks nationwide.[snip]

Like Campus Kitchens, which began in 2001, several newer efforts focus on bringing meals to people in their schools or homes. At the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, based in Austin, a mobile pantry travels the region, offering people a week's worth of groceries from a refrigerated truck. The vehicle visits housing projects as well as rural communities of migrant workers who have no access to traditional food pantries...The food bank also helps clients enroll in food stamp or Medicare programs and attempts to address other needs.

Did you know that the average food stamp check is $21 per person?  Try sufficiently feeding your family on that!  (And join the rare few Congressional members in accepting the challenge!)

Last year, a study led by Harvard professor J. Larry Brown concluded that the United States could end hunger as a serious national problem by spending $12 billion more on federal nutrition programs, primarily food stamps. That is less than the $14.5 billion nonprofit groups spend to feed the hungry.

"There has never been a nation that I know of that has ensured the nutritional well-being of its population through charity," Brown said. "There is a federal responsibility here that is not being met."

Of course, considering increasing food stamps might be economically more efficient means that there's no pending legislation to do this, although I did find this bill to take anti-hunger efforts out of the kitchen and into the community.  Most bills never make it out of Committee, but we can still contact the House Agriculture Committee and tell them we want action on food stamp expansion.  (You can view members of the relevant Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry here.)

There is aid to states for food stamp expansion in the stimulus; let's not let this moment pass to expand the program permanently, and nationwide.

If you'd like, please let us know in comments what your experience is with food stamps in the U.S., whether as a recipient or provider.  (Here's some previous discussion on the issue.)