Approximately three-quarters of LIFE/Houston clients are WIC certified and receive Medicaid.  Our clients' average monthly income ranges from $825 - $1,249.  Most important, our clients are real families who for various reasons find themselves in need of help.

A yearly snapshot of our services and the clients who visited LIFE/Houston includes:

• Over 6,000 visits
• 2,287 first time visits
• 54% infants were less than 1 month old
• 64% clients were mothers 20-30 years old
• 69% clients were single
• 18,511 cans of formula distributed
• 43,683 other baby essentials distributed

Food Security

Child poverty is significantly higher in Texas than most other states in the nation.  The number of children under the age of five years old that are suffering is particularly large.

Food security refers to the ability of occupants in a household to not live in hunger or fear starvation.  Food insecurity is an indicator of the health and well-being of a family.  Increasingly, food insecurity is a harsh reality for not only poor families but for working families with low to moderate incomes.

Infant and Baby Nutrition Facts

Here are a few reasons why the work of LIFE/Houston makes a difference in the lives of infants and their families:

• The brain grows more in the first two years of life than at any other time.
• Inadequate nutrition during early childhood can impede brain development and have lasting effects on a child's ability to learn.
• For the first two years of life, 50% of a child's total calories should come from fat.  Breast milk or formula provides the essential fats and nutrients.
• When enough formula is not available, some parents may water down baby formula.  These liquids can compromise a child's healthy development through the first year and even prove fatal.
• Baby formula and food are expensive.  Few pantries stock formula on a consistent basis.