Close to a hundred people rallied in Frankfort Wednesday around the issue of hunger in Kentucky. The event also attracted a bipartisan chorus of big name supporters.
It may be one of the few times Kentuckians are likely to see 2015 gubernatorial contenders Jack Conway and James Comer sharing the same podium and message.
"Folks, here in Kentucky we have to be in this together," Conway told the audience.
"We have a poverty issue in this state. We have a hunger issue in this state. And we need to all work together," Comer echoed.
The Democratic Attorney General and Republican Agriculture Commissioner addressed a sea of orange, the official “End Hunger Kentucky” color, in the Capitol Rotunda. Both rattled off alarming statistics, including data showing that close to one in seven people in the state rely on food assistance at some point during the year. And Kentucky Association of Food Banks executive director Tamara Sandberg says the recent rosy economic news hasn’t meant much of a boost for low-income Kentuckians.
"We have not seen a decrease in the demand that we would have hoped since the recession," she says. "A lot of Kentucky families are still struggling."
Last year, the General Assembly appropriated $1.2M over two years for food bank programs. During this year’s short session, Sandberg says her group hopes to convince lawmakers to renew that commitment in 2016.
