Kids and-hunger
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Millions of Americans, including 17 million children, live in food insecure households and do not have reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. This can negatively impact children's health, development, and education as they have trouble concentrating in school and are sick more often. While food assistance programs and charitable efforts help address the problem, they are not enough to fully combat hunger in the US. Ending child hunger requires solutions that help families earn enough to afford food.
Kids and-hunger
- 1. Kids and Hunger Millions of Americans Are Hungry More than 50 million Americans live in “food Rosie’s Banan insecure” families. That’s 1 in 6 people. What does a Like a lot of kids he r age, Colorado ten- that mean? If a family is food insecure, the members loses focus during year-old Rosie som class. Her teacher, etimes do not have enough healthy food or do not have to students occasio Leslie Nichols, who nally daydreaming is used an exercise to help during lessons, taug food for the next meal. People in food insecure her concentrate. Ni ht Rosie word “focus” on a chols told Rosie to families sometimes miss meals and sometimes have little sticker and look write the mind start to drift. at it every time she only small amounts to eat. They are sometimes Still, Rosie struggled felt her “I just really felt sh to pay attention. hungry and think a lot about food, wishing they e wasn’t really applyin had enough. g herself in the class room and I couldn’t figur Kids Are Hungry, Too where that attitude e out One in five children lives in a food insecure was coming from,” Nich family—almost 17 million kids. Think about four ols says. The teacher lat er of your friends. If together you represented all of learned that when Rosie the kids in the United States, one of you would stared off into spac e for be hungry or your parents would decide to be long periods, it wa sn’t hungry so you could eat. Anyone who is hungry because she was th inking suffers, but hungry children suffer more because about cartoons, or Still from A Place at the Table, courtesy Magnolia Pictures her their bodies are still growing. Like Rosie in the friends, or activities . She was thinking “I struggle a lot an about food. story (on the right), hungry children tend to d most of the time it’s because my stom really hurting,” Rosie ach is have trouble concentrating. They miss school says. “I start yawn I’m just looking at ing and then I zone more often, and they are sick more often. And the teacher and I lo out and is food. Sometimes ok at her and all I th when I look at her ink about kids who grow up hungry are more likely to she goes like a bana I vision her as a ba na and everybody nana so have trouble with their health even when they oranges and then I’m in the class is like ap like ‘oh great.’” ples or become adults and have enough food. Rosie gets help fro m caring people in provide her and he her community that r family with food. a food pantry at th Her pastor, Bob W e family’s church; Ni ilson, runs home each week to chols delivers food help her eat and re to Rosie’s Still, it’s not enough ach her full learnin . g potential. The work of church es and food banks but it isn’t enough and good neighbor to combat hunger, s helps, for food is so grea not at a time when t. To help Rosie an the need programs that help d children like her, families lift themse safety net protected. And the lves out of poverty president and Cong must be enact a plan to end ress need to work hunger. together to You can find out m ore about Rosie by documentary abou watching a new t hunger in America Visit www.bread.or called A Place at th g/kids for more info e Table. iStock Photo rmation. 425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org
- 2. Kids Are Hungriest in the Summer Sixty percent of a group of teachers from a variety of schools (city, suburbs, and country) said that they see children coming to school hungry because they don’t have enough food at home. Many children get a good lunch through their schools. And some also get a good breakfast at school. Those meals help them concentrate in school, especially if they don’t have enough food at home for lunch or breakfast. But summer vacation and holidays mean hunger for many kids. Imagine how summer would feel if you had to miss lunch—and maybe breakfast, too. It would be hard to have the energy to do things you enjoy like swimming or skateboarding. Eugene Mebane, Jr. We Have Enough Food for Everyone Even though so many people are hungry, we have more than enough food in the United States to feed everyone. And we have the trucks and the trains to get food to everyone. s t American Most supermarkets are filled with food. Think about how it “I don’t k now if mos ids relying must be to see food all around and not have enough money ere are k rea lize that th ry meal.” in your pocket to buy any. Right now, millions of Americans r eve on school fo do not earn enough money to feed their families because ee, Wisc. r in Milwauk che they can’t find work or because the work they find does not —Laura, tea pay enough. ONE IN 24 One in 24 bags of food assistance comes from a charitable organization. Federal nutrition programs provide the rest. Facts compiled from U.S. Department of Agriculture and Bread for the World Institute. 425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org
- 3. Volunteering and Donating Helps, But Not Enough One obvious way to help a hungry person is to give her or him some food. This is what many churches and community groups across the country do. Families collect food and donate it to food banks where people can shop, even if they don’t have money. Other people take donations and cook meals for hungry people. But all of those efforts don’t reach everyone who is hungry. Twenty-three times more food comes from programs run by the U.S. government than through food banks and charity. These are some of those programs: • SNAP (The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) provides help for families who are having a hard time buying groceries. The amount is not much, but it helps families buy basics. • WIC (The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) Jennifer Stapleton provides mothers and young children with healthy food. It is especially important that babies get enough healthy food because their whole lives will be affected by what happens when they are small. • The National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program make sure that children from food insecure homes have enough energy to power their brains while they are in school. Of course, the best way to end child hunger is to make sure that parents can find jobs that pay them enough to buy healthy food. But children will need food while more good jobs are being created. SNAP, WIC, school lunches and other government programs help. You Can Help End Hunger Our representatives and senators in Congress decide how much money to provide for the main programs that help feed hungry kids. Even though the money for those programs is only a small part of the amount the government spends, some lawmakers feel pressure to cut them. Jennifer Stapleton You can help by reminding them that kids go hungry when there is less money for SNAP, WIC, or school meals. You can write a letter to your representatives and senator telling them that kids should not have to worry about food. You can also sign Bread for the World’s petition asking the president to work on a plan to end hunger. Go to www.bread.org/kids to take action. 425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org
- 4. Visit the Bread for the World website www.bread.org/kids On the Bread for the World website you can learn more about how to end hunger, and you can take actions to help: • Sign a petition to the president asking him to work on a plan to end hunger. • Write letters to Congress, using our helpful tips and information about where to send them. • Watch videos and read stories about hungry people and the solutions to hunger. Child Nutrition and SNAP An estimated 22 milli 1 on U.S. 3 children use SNAP* to get enough to eat. Th help them is represents in close to 1 in 3 childr en (29 percent) in the United States. *SNAP is the Supplem ental Nutrition Assistance Pro gram, formerly food stamps. 425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org