LINCOLN SQUARE — The 47th Ward is home to relatively well-to-do communities including Lincoln Square and North Center, but many struggling neighbors often go hungry.
A coalition of the ward's clergy will host a forum on hunger at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Sulzer Library, 4455 N. Lincoln Ave., to better inform residents about the issue.
Speakers will include Lori Gee, executive director of Ravenswood Community Services, which operates a weekly food pantry; Anthony Alfano, public policy and advocacy coordinator for the Greater Chicago Food Depository; and a former client of North Center's Common Pantry food pantry.
The forum is the third in a series that has included discussions surrounding immigration and refugees, and homelessness.
Thursday's event is timed to coincide with Hunger Action Month, a nationwide effort to raise awareness about hunger and provide assistance.
According to data provided by Feeding America, more than 660,000 people in Cook County, or 12.6 percent, are "food insecure" — unable to provide enough food for every person in the household to have an active, healthy life.
Of those individuals, nearly three-quarters live below the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program threshold of 165 percent poverty, which translates as an annual income of less than $40,590 for a family of four, according to poverty guidelines developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
