The hidden faces of hunger in America
Heather Thomas can count out the tragedies that pulled her family of eight into poverty. She and her husband lost their jobs and home, their small business folded, multiple relatives died and health crises pushed them into medical debt.
"It just went from a drip to a flood very quickly. And we just lost it all," Thomas recalled.
"Food was really, really, really tight. My husband's health, because of his conditions, there were times we just couldn't eat right. And one of his health conditions ended up getting a lot worse. We were rationing diapers... It was really bad."
They're among the more than 1.2 million people who struggled to put food on the table at some point last year in the Washington, D.C. region. That's a third of the population living in and around the capital of one of the richest nations on Earth.
Nationwide, more than 33 million. No community is spared, with rural areas, families with children and communities of color disproportionately affected.
