Millions of Americans, including 17 million children, live in food insecure households and do not have reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. This can negatively impact children's health, development, and education as they have trouble concentrating in school and are sick more often. While food assistance programs and charitable efforts help address the problem, they are not enough to fully combat hunger in the US. Ending child hunger requires solutions that help families earn enough to afford food.

1. Kids and Hunger
Millions of Americans Are Hungry
More than 50 million Americans live in “food Rosie’s Banan
insecure” families. That’s 1 in 6 people. What does a
Like a lot of kids he
r age, Colorado ten-
that mean? If a family is food insecure, the members loses focus during year-old Rosie som
class. Her teacher, etimes
do not have enough healthy food or do not have to students occasio Leslie Nichols, who
nally daydreaming is used
an exercise to help during lessons, taug
food for the next meal. People in food insecure her concentrate. Ni ht Rosie
word “focus” on a chols told Rosie to
families sometimes miss meals and sometimes have little sticker and look write the
mind start to drift. at it every time she
only small amounts to eat. They are sometimes Still, Rosie struggled felt her
“I just really felt sh to pay attention.
hungry and think a lot about food, wishing they e
wasn’t really applyin
had enough. g
herself in the class
room
and I couldn’t figur
Kids Are Hungry, Too where that attitude
e out
One in five children lives in a food insecure was
coming from,” Nich
family—almost 17 million kids. Think about four ols
says. The teacher lat
er
of your friends. If together you represented all of learned that when
Rosie
the kids in the United States, one of you would stared off into spac
e for
be hungry or your parents would decide to be long periods, it wa
sn’t
hungry so you could eat. Anyone who is hungry because she was th
inking
suffers, but hungry children suffer more because about cartoons, or Still from A Place at the Table, courtesy Magnolia Pictures
her
their bodies are still growing. Like Rosie in the friends, or activities
. She was thinking
“I struggle a lot an about food.
story (on the right), hungry children tend to d most of the time
it’s because my stom
really hurting,” Rosie ach is
have trouble concentrating. They miss school says. “I start yawn
I’m just looking at ing and then I zone
more often, and they are sick more often. And the teacher and I lo out and
is food. Sometimes ok at her and all I th
when I look at her ink about
kids who grow up hungry are more likely to she goes like a bana I vision her as a ba
na and everybody nana so
have trouble with their health even when they oranges and then I’m in the class is like ap
like ‘oh great.’” ples or
become adults and have enough food. Rosie gets help fro
m caring people in
provide her and he her community that
r family with food.
a food pantry at th Her pastor, Bob W
e family’s church; Ni ilson, runs
home each week to chols delivers food
help her eat and re to Rosie’s
Still, it’s not enough ach her full learnin
. g potential.
The work of church
es and food banks
but it isn’t enough and good neighbor
to combat hunger, s helps,
for food is so grea not at a time when
t. To help Rosie an the need
programs that help d children like her,
families lift themse safety net
protected. And the lves out of poverty
president and Cong must be
enact a plan to end ress need to work
hunger. together to
You can find out m
ore about Rosie by
documentary abou watching a new
t hunger in America
Visit www.bread.or called A Place at th
g/kids for more info e Table.
iStock Photo
rmation.
425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org

2. Kids Are Hungriest in the Summer
Sixty percent of a group of teachers from a variety
of schools (city, suburbs, and country) said that they
see children coming to school hungry because they
don’t have enough food at home. Many children get
a good lunch through their schools. And some also
get a good breakfast at school. Those meals help
them concentrate in school, especially if they don’t
have enough food at home for lunch or breakfast.
But summer vacation and holidays mean hunger
for many kids. Imagine how summer would feel if
you had to miss lunch—and maybe breakfast, too. It
would be hard to have the energy to do things you
enjoy like swimming or skateboarding. Eugene Mebane, Jr.
We Have Enough Food for Everyone
Even though so many people are hungry, we have more
than enough food in the United States to feed everyone. And
we have the trucks and the trains to get food to everyone.
s
t American Most supermarkets are filled with food. Think about how it
“I don’t k now if mos ids relying must be to see food all around and not have enough money
ere are k
rea lize that th ry meal.” in your pocket to buy any. Right now, millions of Americans
r eve
on school fo
do not earn enough money to feed their families because
ee, Wisc.
r in Milwauk
che they can’t find work or because the work they find does not
—Laura, tea
pay enough.
ONE IN 24 One in 24 bags of food assistance comes
from a charitable organization. Federal
nutrition programs provide the rest.
Facts compiled from U.S. Department of Agriculture and Bread for the World Institute.
425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org

3. Volunteering and Donating Helps, But Not Enough
One obvious way to help a hungry person is
to give her or him some food. This is what many
churches and community groups across the country
do. Families collect food and donate it to food banks
where people can shop, even if they don’t have
money. Other people take donations and cook meals
for hungry people.
But all of those efforts don’t reach everyone who
is hungry. Twenty-three times more food comes from
programs run by the U.S. government than through
food banks and charity. These are some of those
programs:
• SNAP (The Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program) provides help for families
who are having a hard time buying groceries.
The amount is not much, but it helps families
buy basics.
• WIC (The Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants and Children)
Jennifer Stapleton
provides mothers and young children with
healthy food. It is especially important that babies get enough healthy food because their whole lives
will be affected by what happens when they are small.
• The National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program make sure that children
from food insecure homes have enough energy to power their brains while they are in school.
Of course, the best way to end child
hunger is to make sure that parents can
find jobs that pay them enough to buy
healthy food. But children will need food
while more good jobs are being created.
SNAP, WIC, school lunches and other
government programs help.
You Can Help End Hunger
Our representatives and senators in
Congress decide how much money to
provide for the main programs that help
feed hungry kids. Even though the money
for those programs is only a small part of
the amount the government spends, some
lawmakers feel pressure to cut them.
Jennifer Stapleton
You can help by reminding them that
kids go hungry when there is less money
for SNAP, WIC, or school meals. You can write a letter to your representatives and senator telling them
that kids should not have to worry about food. You can also sign Bread for the World’s petition asking the
president to work on a plan to end hunger. Go to www.bread.org/kids to take action.
425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org

4. Visit the Bread for the World
website
www.bread.org/kids
On the Bread for the World website you
can learn more about how to end hunger,
and you can take actions to help:
• Sign a petition to the president
asking him to work on a plan to end
hunger.
• Write letters to Congress, using our
helpful tips and information about
where to send them.
• Watch videos and read stories
about hungry people and the
solutions to hunger.
Child Nutrition and
SNAP
An estimated 22 milli
1
on U.S.
3
children use SNAP* to
get enough to eat. Th
help them
is represents
in
close to 1 in 3 childr
en (29
percent) in the United
States.
*SNAP is the Supplem
ental Nutrition Assistance Pro
gram, formerly food stamps.
425 3rd Street SW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20024 • 202.639.9400 • Toll Free 800.822.7323 • Fax 202.639.9401 • www.bread.org