Fact sheet about Kids and Hunger in the United States
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Millions of Americans Are Hungry More than 50 million Americans live in “food insecure” families. That’s 1 in 6 people. What does that mean? If a family is food insecure, the members do not have enough healthy food or do not have food for the next meal. People in food insecure families sometimes miss meals and sometimes have only small amounts to eat. They are sometimes hungry and think a lot about food, wishing they had enough. Kids Are Hungry, Too One in five children lives in a food insecure family—almost 17 million kids. Think about four of your friends. If together you represented all of the kids in the United States, one of you would be hungry or your parents would decide to be hungry so you could eat. Anyone who is hungry suffers, but hungry children suffer more because their bodies are still growing. Like Rosie in the story (on the right), hungry children tend to have trouble concentrating. They miss school more often, and they are sick more often. And kids who grow up hungry are more likely to have trouble with their health even when they become adults and have enough food. Kids and Hunger 425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org Rosie’s Banana Like a lot of kids her age, Colorado ten-year-old Rosie sometimes loses focus during class. Her teacher, Leslie Nichols, who is used to students occasionally daydreaming during lessons, taught Rosie an exercise to help her concentrate. Nichols told Rosie to write the word “focus” on a little sticker and look at it every time she felt her mind start to drift. Still, Rosie struggled to pay attention. “I just really felt she wasn’t really applying herself in the classroom and I couldn’t figure out where that attitude was coming from,” Nichols says. The teacher later learned that when Rosie stared off into space for long periods, it wasn’t because she was thinking about cartoons, or her friends, or activities. She was thinking about food. “I struggle a lot and most of the time it’s because my stomach is really hurting,” Rosie says. “I start yawning and then I zone out and I’m just looking at the teacher and I look at her and all I think about is food. Sometimes when I look at her I vision her as a banana so she goes like a banana and everybody in the class is like apples or oranges and then I’m like ‘oh great.’” Rosie gets help from caring people in her community that provide her and her family with food. Her pastor, Bob Wilson, runs a food pantry at the family’s church; Nichols delivers food to Rosie’s home each week to help her eat and reach her full learning potential. Still, it’s not enough. The work of churches and food banks and good neighbors helps, but it isn’t enough to combat hunger, not at a time when the need for food is so great. To help Rosie and children like her, safety net programs that help families lift themselves out of poverty must be protected. And the president and Congress need to work together to enact a plan to end hunger. You can find out more about Rosie by watching a new documentary about hunger in America called A Place at the Table. Visit www.bread.org/kids for more information. iStock Photo Still from A Place at the Table, courtesy Magnolia Pictures
Transcript
Millions of Americans Are Hungry More than 50 million Americans live in “food
insecure” families. That’s 1 in 6 people. What does that mean? If a family is food insecure, the members do not have enough healthy food or do not have food for the next meal. People in food insecure families sometimes miss meals and sometimes have only small amounts to eat. They are sometimes hungry and think a lot about food, wishing they had enough.
Kids Are Hungry, TooOne in five children lives in a food insecure
family—almost 17 million kids. Think about four of your friends. If together you represented all of the kids in the United States, one of you would be hungry or your parents would decide to be hungry so you could eat. Anyone who is hungry suffers, but hungry children suffer more because their bodies are still growing. Like Rosie in the story (on the right), hungry children tend to have trouble concentrating. They miss school more often, and they are sick more often. And kids who grow up hungry are more likely to have trouble with their health even when they become adults and have enough food.
Kids and Hunger
425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org
Rosie’s BananaLike a lot of kids her age, Colorado ten-year-old Rosie sometimes
loses focus during class. Her teacher, Leslie Nichols, who is used to students occasionally daydreaming during lessons, taught Rosie an exercise to help her concentrate. Nichols told Rosie to write the word “focus” on a little sticker and look at it every time she felt her mind start to drift. Still, Rosie struggled to pay attention.“I just really felt she wasn’t really applying herself in the classroom and I couldn’t figure out where that attitude was
coming from,” Nichols says. The teacher later learned that when Rosie stared off into space for long periods, it wasn’t
because she was thinking about cartoons, or her friends, or activities. She was thinking about food.“I struggle a lot and most of the time it’s because my stomach is really hurting,” Rosie says. “I start yawning and then I zone out and I’m just looking at the teacher and I look at her and all I think about is food. Sometimes when I look at her I vision her as a banana so she goes like a banana and everybody in the class is like apples or oranges and then I’m like ‘oh great.’”Rosie gets help from caring people in her community that provide her and her family with food. Her pastor, Bob Wilson, runs a food pantry at the family’s church; Nichols delivers food to Rosie’s home each week to help her eat and reach her full learning potential.
Still, it’s not enough. The work of churches and food banks and good neighbors helps,
but it isn’t enough to combat hunger, not at a time when the need for food is so great. To help Rosie and children like her, safety net programs that help families lift themselves out of poverty must be protected. And the president and Congress need to work together to enact a plan to end hunger. You can find out more about Rosie by watching a new documentary about hunger in America called A Place at the Table. Visit www.bread.org/kids for more information.iStock Photo
Still from A Place at the Table, courtesy Magnolia Pictures
425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org
Kids Are Hungriest in the SummerSixty 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.
We Have Enough Food for EveryoneEven 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. Most supermarkets are filled with food. Think about how it must be to see food all around and not have enough money in your pocket to buy any. Right now, millions of Americans do not earn enough money to feed their families because they can’t find work or because the work they find does not pay enough.
“I don’t know if most Americans
realize that there are kids relying
on school for every meal.”
—Laura, teacher in Milwaukee, Wisc.
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.
Eugene Mebane, Jr.
425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org
Volunteering and Donating Helps, But Not EnoughOne 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) 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 HungerOur 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.
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.
Jennifer Stapleton
Jennifer Stapleton
425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org
Visit the Bread for the World websitewww.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:
• Signapetitiontothepresident asking him to work on a plan to end hunger.
• WriteletterstoCongress, using our helpful tips and information about where to send them.
• Watchvideosandreadstories about hungry people and the solutions to hunger.
An estimated 22 million U.S. children use SNAP* to help them get enough to eat. This represents close to 1 in 3 children (29 percent) in the United States.
1 in 3
*SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps.
