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As the gap grows between their wages and the actual cost of living, many American families are pushing food down the priority list - after other essentials such as rent, utilities and gas to get back and forth to work.

For 34 million Americans, including 13 million children, food is becoming a luxury. An alliance of anti-hunger groups issued a blueprint last week to end hunger by rallying everyone from President Bush to citizens at the local level to play a role.

The report offers several remedies, including the federal government's bolstering of funding for programs, such a food stamps and Women, Infants and Children (WIC), that have proved effective in reducing hunger.

It urges state and local governments to streamline the application process for those seeking food assistance and urges individuals to promote nutrition in their communities or give of their time or food donations to anti-hunger groups.

The report, sadly, has much resonance in one of the richest nations in the world. For some children, free school lunches provide the only meal of the day. Elderly people choose between buying food or medication, and working parents skip meals to make sure their children have something to eat.

Southwest Virginia reflects the disturbing trend. From July 2003 through April, the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank served 178,986 families, with the monthly tally increasing each month.

A spokeswoman for the national Second Harvest office said that food banks increasingly are becoming a monthly rescue for working families. She said some families used to turn to food banks occasionally, only after a financial emergency such as an unexpected car repair left them short one month.

As families' earning power shrinks, however, they have to rely on the food banks to help them get through the end of every month.

As the prevalence of hunger grows, the alliance's blueprint offers a welcome road map for a nation committed to reversing the problem.