FREDRICKSBURG, Virginia -- We're supposed to remember the 1990s as a period of economic expansion unlike anything the United States had ever seen. But to Oya Oliver and the rest of the staff at the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank, that decade always looked a little different than the official story that was being peddled by the media and the Clinton-Gore cheerleaders.
"It wasn't the picture they painted," says Oliver, executive director of the food bank, who recalls that the number of families seeking help from her non- profit started increasing well before growth figures suggested an economic downturn was approaching.
When tough times hit a family, food insecurity is often the first hardship it faces. U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show that the number of people who had trouble putting enough food on the table increased over the last half of the '90s. Today, 31 million Americans -- about one in nine in this country -- live in hunger or on the edge of hunger, according to America's Second Harvest, a national network of food banks and food recovery organizations.