Small Steps: Nurturing Houston's Children

When you walk through the entrance of Small Steps, you find yourself in a bright, warm yellow lobby covered in children’s art, with a high ceiling painted with a soft blue sky and white clouds. In such a beautiful, engaging environment it’s easy to forget the struggles the young children face outside those doors.

We joined the kids for lunch in the cafeteria, which looked like a child-sized European cafe with tiny vases of flowers adorning the low, round tables, and chatted with the kids about their hobbies and what they want to be when they grow up. After lunch we spent a few minutes talking to Evan, who wisely pointed out the direct connection between a child’s access to food and his/her ability to learn in the classroom.

“No matter how much energy and effort we put into providing a top-notch education to our kids,” Evan says, “it’s all completely worthless if they aren’t eating properly,” which is why all Small Steps students receive two meals and a snack each day, no matter what. Evan’s remarks reminded me how central and critical schools are in the fight to end childhood hunger in Houston.

It was a privilege to spend even just a few short hours bearing witness to the extraordinary work Small Steps does to address all the students’ needs. Hunger is a real and serious issue in the lives of the kids we met in Houston, and that was never more real to me than when the staff at Small Steps shared their students’ personal stories.

Lydia Jones, the Development Director, told us about a set of siblings at the school who were so hungry on Monday mornings that their teacher would wait for them to arrive and rush them to a private place to feed them. It was evident that they hadn’t eaten all weekend.

Last year when being interviewed for the school newsletter a graduating kindergartener, Genesis, was asked what she would do with $100. “I would buy food - soup and pasta,” she responded. When you were five years old would you have ever have thought to wish for soup or pasta?