childhood hunger
Feeding Hungry Children: A Teenager’s Perspective
September 20, 2013
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This is how I see it.

I’m an average teenage girl, living in the New York suburbs.  I know I am lucky.  I am lucky enough to have a relatively stress-free life where my biggest worries are an upcoming test in calculus or what am I going to wear to school each day.  There have been many days where I come home for school looking for a snack and I complain to my mom, “There is nothing in this house to eat.”  I know that this complaint is a complete exaggeration.  Our refrigerator and pantry are filled with food.  Each week groceries are replenished and if we run out of milk, or eggs, or bananas, my mom will run to the local market to fill in. 

I have seen firsthand that not everyone is as fortunate.  In school we learn about impoverished countries, but it is shocking to see that there are many impoverished families in my own backyard.  Here in the United States, there are over 16 million kids that are hungry.  This is just unacceptable.  

Since I have been working at E S Foods, I have learned firsthand that there are solutions to feeding hungry children.  There are programs that our own government provides to help feed these kids. One easy answer is school breakfast. From a young age, we learn that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Schools can provide breakfast and the government will provide financial assistance.  It is a really simple answer.  Classroom breakfast programs really work.  

Yet there is so much room for growth.  According to the most recent School Breakfast Scorecard, published by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), 50.4 low-income children ate school breakfast for every 100 low-income children eating school lunch. Just think of the millions of hungry children that could receive breakfast. 

The way I see it, every school that has students that are hungry should offer free breakfasts, the same way they offer free lunches.  This will help the needy children and the future of our country.

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