By Gene Lowe
December 20, 2006

The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Sodexho, Inc. released the 2006 Hunger and Homelessness Survey at a press conference December 14 at the Conference of Mayors Headquarters in Washington (DC). Participants in the press conference included: Conference of Mayors President Trenton (NJ) Mayor Douglas H. Palmer; Des Moines (IA) Mayor T.M. Franklin Cownie, Co-Chair of the Conference of Mayors Hunger and Homeless Taskforce; Charleston (SC) Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Conference of Mayors Past President; Congressman Jim McGovern (MA), Co-Chair of the Congressional Hunger Caucus; Rod Bond, President of Sodexho, Inc. School Services Division; and Conference Executive Director Tom Cochran.

For more than 20 years, the Conference of Mayors has reported on the shortage of emergency services – food, shelter, medical care, income assistance and energy assistance – in the nation’s cities. For the fourth year, Sodexho, Inc. joins the Conference of Mayors in bringing national attention to the factors that impact hunger and homelessness in metropolitan areas in the United States.

“This survey represents real people with real needs in cities all across our nation,” said Palmer. “As mayors of cities in the richest and most powerful nation in the world, we cannot simply stand by as our residents – families with children – continue to suffer. We have a responsibility to work together with our federal partners, as well as the private sector to turn the tide of those most in need in America.”

“The results of this report shed light on a very real challenge facing this nation,” said Cownie. “All of us, as Americans, should ask ourselves, are we willing to confront the difficult issues of hunger and homelessness and identify the causes? To attack this problem in a coordinated manner, we cannot ignore the fact that additional funding is needed. If we are to truly change the condition of those who are chronically hungry and homeless, we must act now.”

“This annual survey is a vital tool in our fight against poverty - the root cause of hunger and homelessness. Cities like San Francisco are leading this fight by investing in long-term solutions like permanent supportive housing that links housing with job training to help homeless individuals stand on their own two feet and break the cycle of poverty,” said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Co-Chair of the Conference of Mayor Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness.

Amid a growing debate on the federal level on the use of the term “hunger,” McGovern has argued that to call hunger by any other name will make it more difficult to get the political backing and action that is needed to deal with this issue.

“Hunger and homelessness are not simply part of the natural order of things. They represent inexcusable failures of political will and human imagination,” McGovern said. “All of us – at all levels of government and throughout society – must rededicate ourselves to addressing the needs of ALL Americans.”

For the last four years, Sodexho, Inc. has been a partner with the Conference of Mayors in bringing attention to the serious dilemma of hunger in this country. “All year, Sodexho focuses on the plight of our nation’s hungry. We are a company that shows our commitment through more than our checkbook. We are an activist company with more than 110,000 U.S. employees, and we make it our business to understand the effects of hunger and to practice hunger-reducing activities in our communities,” said Bond.