Hunger continues to be a significant issue within Marathon County. Keeping our community healthy and fed remains an important goal of the organizations that assist with this issue. In recent years, two definite segments of the population have shown an increase in need, these being students of all ages and our ever increasing senior population. 

In Marathon County the utilization of free and reduced lunches range from 13.08% usage to 81.34% usage. Over 2/3 of the schools in Marathon County have at least 25% usage of this program. All schools are seeing the hunger needs of students increasing and are opening food pantries within schools to assist with meeting this need.

Our senior population continues to grow daily, with one in every five individuals over the age of sixty and an additional 12,000 more turning sixty each day within the United States.  One in four seniors live alone with nearly 9 million seniors in the United States facing the threat of hunger.  Food pantries within Marathon County are seeing an increased usage of seniors accessing their pantries, knowing there are many more that are incapable of accessing services due to transportation issues or basic pride.