Fifteen percent of Americans are living in poverty, and 21 percent of American children live in poverty. One in every 6 Americans is hungry, and 6 percent of the country is unemployed. Poverty statistics can look grim, but what does poverty actually look like?
Reddit user Luizeef asked, "What memory from your childhood makes you think 'Wow, we were poor'?" More than 5,000 people responded on the social networking site, sharing memories from childhood of evidences of their poverty.

"The responses show us more about low-income living than any state could," Huffington Post's Eleanor Goldberg writes.
Here's what some of the responses said:

"Realizing that we were living in my aunt's backyard, in a tent, and not camping for three months," one user wrote.
"Sitting next to the window in my room so I could read by the streetlights when our power was shut off," a user remembered.
"My friend in third grade told me I was poor. I said, 'No man, you're rich.' He said, 'No. I'm middle-class. You're poor.'"
And statements from several users showed how simple meals can reflect poverty: "Ketchup sandwiches," "butter sandwiches," and "mayonnaise sandwiches," they wrote.

"I remember begging to go to McDonald's, where I would have a Happy Meal and my parents would have nothing and watch me eat. I didn't realize it at the time, but they couldn't afford to order a meal for themselves," one user wrote.

amcdonald@deseretnews.com
Twitter | @amymcdonald89