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Advocacy |
Nourishing Our Children Our Future at Risk No parent wants their child to go hungry, yet we know that many families across Northwest NC lack the resources to provide adequate nutrition for their families. The most recent Hunger in America study revealed that more than one-third of those benefiting from our emergency food assistance partners are children. Across our service area an average of 47% of students enrolled in school qualify for the National Free and Reduced Lunch program – a startling indicator of the extent to which many families are struggling economically in the region. Sadly, for 185 days each year, the majority of these children do not have access to the federal summer feeding program. In fact, last year North Carolina sent $7.4 million in summer feeding funding back to the federal government. Healthy Children, Stronger Communities Ten years ago, Second Harvest Food Bank solidified its commitment to place an emphasis on alleviating childhood hunger, launching its first Kids Cafe, a national initiative of America’s Second Harvest, feeding children at risk of hunger in local urban communities. In the last several years, funding from a variety of sources supported the growth of the program to include eight sites. Each is made possible in collaboration with one of our partner agencies. Participating youth enjoy a hot, nutritious meal, three evenings a week throughout the year, along with tutoring and enrichment activities. Our newest childhood hunger program, another national initiative of America’s Second Harvest called The BackPack Program, was launched in the fall of 2005 with funding support from Lowes Foods and serves children living in rural communities who participate in the free/reduced meals program during the school week. Children in need are identified by school officials and receive a back pack full of nourishing foods to take home on weekends. Ongoing support from Lowes Foods combined with new funding sources have powered the expansion of the program to include nine program sites in eight counties made possible in collaboration with our partner agencies and selected school. To help provide food for both Kids Cafes and The Backpack Program, a new food drive to Bag Childhood Hunger was launched last year through an unprecedented collaboration among grocery retailers in our area, including Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Lowes Foods and Wal-Mart. The pilot effort was a great success and we look forward to its expansion in the years ahead. Of continued concern to Second Harvest Food Bank is the lack of summer feeding sites for children in need across our service area. To help spread the word among potential host agencies about available funding, officials from the Summer Food Services Program are invited to conduct workshops at our Annual Agency Conference. We are now exploring strategies for educating various stakeholders about existing model programs that have been successfully implemented in other parts of the country, and look forward to sharing our progress in future reports. |
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