Hunger in the Headlines: Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids

State wants champions of breakfast, via The Daily Sentinel: The Colorado Department of Education is offering cash prizes to schools that increase the percentage of students eating breakfast at school. The schools that increase participation the most will be rewarded with $5,000. The goal is to help students perform and behave better in school, and be healthier by eating before class. Parents have 30 full school days past the first day of school to fill out an application for their children to receive free or reduced meals in Colorado. Students can temporarily qualify for the first few weeks of school, but by law, the district has to remove a student from the free and reduced list if a parent missed the deadline.

Policy and Charity, via The Washington Post: “The country needs food banks, of course, but a better system of food stamps would make a much bigger difference… So what I want are politically effective charities. Groups that are particularly skilled at pushing government policy in positive directions… And I think people seriously underestimate how much impact a savvy, well-funded nonprofit can have in Washington.”

Study: Effects of Childhood Hunger Last for Decades, via Time: The National Cancer Institute and the University of Calgary performed the first long-term study on the effects of hunger on general health, tracking children from birth to 21 years. Researchers found that children who went hungry at least once in their lifetimes were two-and-a-half times more likely to have poor overall health 10 to 15 years later, compared to those who never had to go without food. This study supports earlier findings that multiple episodes of hunger are more likely to cause ill health than an isolated experience of starvation. Still, even one experience of hunger can have lasting effects on a child’s health.