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ity programs run by the Department for the Aging also feed the elderly through congregate meals, which are subsidized meals at senior centers, and meal-delivery services for homebound seniors. On a typical day, the Department for the Aging funds nearly 50,000 meals for the elderly.

With the baby boomer demographic explosion just a few years off, the problem of hunger among the elderly could worsen. The Bureau of the Census forecasts that today's senior-citizen population of 35 million will mushroom to nearly 70 million in 2030.

But too many hungry seniors do not take advantage of programs like Metro Baptist's. Berg, the hunger specialist at the USDA, says better communication with at-risk elderly is needed. "We need to let these people know they can, and should, access these benefits," he says.

WHAT IS HUNGER?

The USDA uses three levels to determine who is food secure, who is food insecure, and who is hungry.

Food Security: Access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum: (1) the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and (2) an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.

Food Insecurity: Limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.

Hunger: The uneasy or painful sensation caused by a lack of food. The recurrent and involuntary lack of access to food.