Before I worked for IDFA, I worked at the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), one of the organizations leading the fight against hunger in the United States.  FRAC’s approach to reducing hunger is to ensure that the federal nutrition programs are widely available to the people in need of them,  and these programs help people get access to healthy foods like dairy products. These federal nutrition programs include the school meal programs, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps.  There certainly has been a great overlap between my former and current work. Another anti-hunger organization, Feeding America , is a coalition of food banks across the United States.  This month, Feeding America is coordinating Hunger Action Month to encourage awareness of hunger and action toward reducing the rate of hunger in this country. USDA released a report this month, estimating the number of Americans who experience hunger or food insecurity.  USDA found that 14.5% of American households were food insecure at some point during 2012, meaning that there was difficulty providing enough food for everyone in the household because of insufficient funds.  More than half of these households use SNAP, WIC or the school lunch program in order to help get the food they need. So this month, celebrate the role that dairy companies play in reducing hunger by being an integral part of federal nutrition programs.  And consider what else we could all be doing to help reduce hunger in the United States.