Is Ending Hunger Daunting?
Posted by Billy Shore on Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Last Saturday, the Washington Post published an article that brings into sharp focus the very issues Share Our Strength is working to address. This article underscores the formidable challenge of meeting the Obama Administration’s goal of ending hunger by 2015, and why Share Our Strength’s strategy must be extended into more states where the need is great.
As you know, Share Our Strength shares that goal, and has a strategy and a plan to achieve it. Through our national No Kid Hungry campaign, we’re making national grants and forging statewide partnerships to identify and overcome each and every one of the barriers that prevent families like those featured in the Washington Post piece from accessing all of the programs that could help.
That might mean moving school breakfast, which has roughly half the participation of school lunch, from the cafeteria before school to the classroom during first period when students don’t face the same transportation challenges or stigma of arriving early. It often means organizing alternative summer feeding sites to provide meals when the schools are closed.
The result can be tens of millions of already authorized and appropriated federal dollars flowing into states that have otherwise suffered massive budget and program cuts.
Please take a moment to watch this brief video, which highlights the work we’re doing to surround kids in Maryland with nutritious food.
The results suggest—and we believe—that this is a winnable battle.
- In the first year of our partnership in Maryland, nearly 10,000 more children participated in the school breakfast program, helping connect these students with the critical nutrition they need to learn and bringing an additional $1.5M of federal funds into Maryland.
- In Florida, our partnership efforts helped ensure that all 67 counties offer summer meal programs, and as a result, 76% more children were served in June and July of 2009 than in the 2008.
- In Washington, DC, The Partnership to End Childhood Hunger in the Nation’s Capital has increased WIC participation by an additional 2,488 pregnant women, infants and children: a 17% increase.
Our strategy is working, and we are confident that with the political will and leadership, that we can end childhood hunger by 2015. But we can’t get there without your support.
Our goal is to raise $750,000 by December 31st so that we can expand our successful No Kid Hungry campaign to five additional states next year to connect families in need, like those featured in the Washington Post piece, with the programs that could help.
Ending childhood hunger in America by 2015 is a daunting task, but it’s doable. And with your support, we can reach that goal.
December 16, 2009 | | Tags: childhood hunger, holiday, No Kid Hungry, Obama
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