11 Facts About Hunger in the U.S.

In 2009, 50.2 million Americans (up from 35.5 million in 2006), including 17.2 million children, are food insecure, or didn’t have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives.

 
In 2009, 65% of adults reported that they had been hungry, but did not eat because they could not afford enough food.

In 2008 alone, a rise of about 6% in the price of groceries has led the poor to adopt a variety of survival strategies, from buying food that is beyond its expiration date to visiting food banks.

About 33.7 million people in America participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- a program that provides monthly benefits to poor households to purchase approved food items from authorized food stores. According to the USDA, the average benefit per person was $124 per month and the Federal government spent over $53.6 billion on the program in 2009.

America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s major food bank network, annually provides food to over 23 million people. That is more than the population of the state of Texas.

5.6 million households obtained emergency food from food pantries at least once during 2009.

To find out the rest of the facts, please visit Dosomething.org.

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

Columbia, SC 29229

803-462-9425

Tackle Hunger

With Christmas right around the corner, let's not forget those families that are struggling to make ends meet and going hungry.

You can help!

Please consider donating to Harvest Hope, or a local food pantry in your neighborhood.

That is the spirit of Christmas!

Yes?

Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio
Columbia, SC 29229
803-462-9425

What You Don't Know About Rape on College Campuses

Sexual assault crimes against female students is alarmingly common. And taking steps to stop these occurrences and putting the criminals behind bars just isn't happening. Cosmo investigates why that is...

BY ZOE RUDERMAN

A survey conducted by the Chicago Tribune found that of the sex crimes reported on college campuses in the past six years, only seven percent resulted in arrests and less than three percent resulted in convictions. That is well below the national average; about 25 percent of reported rapes result in arrests and about two-thirds of those arrests turn into convictions, according to the Tribune.

The newspaper looked at 171 cases that took place at a variety of Midwestern schools. Some of the schools they investigated, like Northwestern, had over 20 reports of sexual assault, but not a single arrest or conviction. Other colleges, such as Notre Dame, didn't have much better stats: they had 34 sex crimes and just four arrests and zero convictions. And Indiana University had a whopping 69 allegations of sexual violence and only one conviction.

And according to Russlynn Ali, the assistant secretary for civil rights in the U.S. Department of Education, this isn't just happening in the midwest. She told the Tribune, "These kinds of data are illustrative of the disturbing and alarming trend we are seeing across this country."

This comes on the heels of another scary revelation that some campuses may be neglecting to correctly and completely report sex crime statistics. A few weeks ago Yale University was found to have omitted certain "forcible sex offenses in its report of annual crime statistics when the crimes occurred". The university claims that the mistake has been corrected, but they still stand to lose federal funding for student aid because of the violation.

Read more: Sexual Assault on College Campuses - Reporting Rape Leads to Few Arrests - Cosmopolitan

7 Myths About Sexual Assault and Dating Violence

Sexual assault survivors are men and women and boys and girls of all races and social class, but 80% of them are under 30 years old when the violence takes place. DoSomething.org talked with Megan McKendry, a board member of Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER), who dispelled 11 myths about sexual assault and dating violence.

Myth: Most rapists are strangers.
Fact: 77% of female sexual assault victims know their assailants. On college campuses, 9 out of 10 female victims know their attackers.

Myth: If victims don't aggressively fight back, they weren't raped.
Fact: Intentional sexual contact without consent of the other person constitutes sexual assault, regardless of whether or not victims fight back. Victims may not use physical force for a number of reasons, including fear or physical incapacitation.

Myth: Rape requires the use of a weapon.
Fact: According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 80% of rape and sexual assault incidents do not involve a weapon.

Myth: "Promiscuous" women cannot be raped.
Fact: Just because someone has consented to sex many times beforehand does not mean that he or she has consented to all future sexual acts. All 50 states have "rape shield laws" that apply to criminal cases and limit the introduction of evidence regarding a victim's sexual history.

Myth: Men cannot be raped.
Fact: 1 out of 33 men will be a victim of rape or sexual assault in his lifetime.

You can read the rest of the article at DoSomething.org.

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

Columbia, SC 29229

803-462-9425

History of Karate

This is an excellent overview of the history of karate that will compliment the Wikipedia article mentioned in an earlier blog post.

What To Do If You Or Someone You Know Has Been Raped

No one expects to be in the position of dealing with the aftermath of an attack, so here’s what you need to know.

-Find a safe location away from the perpetrator. Ask a close friend to be with you for support.

-If you are still in the location where you were raped (for example, if it happened in your apartment or dorm room), don’t clean, straighten up, or remove anything.

-Report the crime to law enforcement, campus police, or a trusted school administrator.

-Don’t take a shower, wash your hands, brush your teeth, eat, or smoke.

-Preserve all evidence of the attack—don’t wash your clothing or sheets, etc.

-Write down all the details you can recall about the attack and the perpetrator.
Read more: What to Do If You or Someone You Know Has Been Raped - Cosmopolitan

Why Most Victims Don't Report Rape

College women are four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the rest of the population, yet 95.2% of rapes on campus will never be reported, according to the Department of Justice. The National College Women Sexual Victimization study, which surveyed 4,446 women, found that many survivors don’t want to believe that something as horrible as rape could have happened to them, so they deny that it was rape. Others are afraid they’ll be ostracized by their friends if they accuse a fellow student. And some aren’t sure that the attacker meant to harm them—since most rapes covered on the news involve a scary stranger wielding a weapon, it may be hard to imagine that an assault taking place in your own dorm room by a guy you know is also considered rape.

Read more: Why Most Victims Don’t Report Rape - Cosmopolitan