From 2005 to 2007, Maine ranked fifth worst in the nation in an unfortunate category: the percentage of households that can't afford enough to eat.

And the economy has fallen since 2007 and hunger rates have risen. It's very likely that even more Maine residents now struggle to feed their families.

What is especially disturbing is that one in five Maine children lives in a household struggling with hunger. Going hungry or getting by with non-nutritious meals is not healthy for anyone, but for children it can cause serious harm, threatening their physical and emotional development as well as their ability to learn.

The numbers are unacceptable. This is especially true because ending childhood hunger is well within our nation's capacity, but doing so will require concerted action.

The White House is showing the way by focusing on hunger and nutrition. President Barack Obama has pledged to end childhood hunger in the United States by 2015, and is showing a commitment toward achieving that goal.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has said the president told him that, "What I want you to do first, the most important thing in [your] job, is to make sure America's kids are well fed."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will play a large role in the battle against hunger.

Lessons learned in Maine may be especially important as Kevin Concannon, a Maine native and formerly head of its Department of Human Services, has been named USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services.

Ending hunger for the more than 12 million American children who don't get enough healthy food, however, will require all hands on deck.

With this in mind, the Washington-based Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), which I head, recently released a set of essential strategies for meeting the 2015 goal. These strategies provide a framework from which to develop public support and launch the steps needed over the next six years to meet the goal.

FRAC's seven-part plan to end childhood hunger:

* First, we must restore economic growth and rebuild an economy that creates jobs with better wages for lower-income workers in Maine and across the nation.

* Second, we must lift the incomes of low-earning workers by increasing the minimum wage and strengthening refundable tax credits and other supports that help make work pay.

* Third, we must strengthen the Food Stamp Program (in Maine, it is called the Food Supplement Program) by making monthly benefits adequate for a healthy diet and expanding eligibility to a broader range of hungry families.

* Fourth, we must strengthen child nutrition programs to ensure that many more children receive the benefits of a good school breakfast and lunch, as well as healthy nutrition in other important developmental settings, such as child care and afterschool and summer programs. These programs are due to be reconsidered in Congress later this year, and the Maine congressional delegation must stand up for improvements that will make a real difference in the lives of our children.

* Fifth, the entire federal government must be engaged in ending childhood hunger. This should be a government-wide priority, and meeting it will require focus not just from the Department of Agriculture (which runs the large nutrition programs), but also from such agencies as the Departments of Health and Human Services and Education, and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

* Sixth, we also must work at the state level to make sure that nutrition programs are being used as fully as possible. In Maine, for example, only about 44 low-income children receive school breakfast for every 100 who receive school lunch. The best-performing states have a 60:100 ratio. If Maine reached that point, 8,484 more Maine children would get a healthy start to the day and would be better prepared to learn.

* Seventh, we must make sure all families have convenient access to reasonably priced, healthy food. Let's get healthy food resources into what are now "food deserts" in many rural areas and poor city neighborhoods.

Getting good grocery stores accessible in all low-income communities is a key step.

The president is leading the charge, but it is up to all of us -- federal, state and local public officials, anti-hunger advocates, child advocates, religious institutions, business, labor and those who operate food programs -- to make this commitment a reality.

The well-being of Maine's children depends on it.

Jim Weill is president of the Food Research and Action Center. To read the full report, go to www.endingchildhunger2015.org