How a Baylor pilot study on rural hunger distributed 40M meals across the country this year Hunger is complex and requires more than volunteering and philanthropy to solve. By Jeremy K. Everett As U.S. presidents come and go in modern America, the conditions of people living with hunger and in poverty persist. That does not mean that some of our presidents haven’t tried to improve conditions of the poor, whether they address AIDS in Africa or increase access to health care for millions of Americans. But hunger and poverty have been persistent in our nation for too long.