Children at Risk for Hunger in America

Food for thought on Thanksgiving, both heart warming and heart breaking at the same time. A school in rural Missouri started filling backpacks with food for children they suspected weren't getting enough to eat over the weekends. They started in two places--the kids who ate breakfast and lunch at the school were one at risk group, and then the kids who just seemed listless. The program was under the radar, but families who were in it referred families who weren't, and families who regained employment started donating food for those who were without jobs. They thought about what food to provide--it had to be healthy. There needed to either be no preparation or food that could be prepared by even a young child (like Ramen) because often these kids are left alone. They put the food in ordinary backpacks and the kids who are in the program just go by the office and pick them up after school lets out on Friday, bring them back on Monday, and no one is the wiser (until this article was published, at least). They were very careful about privacy, avoiding shame and stigmatization.

The article brought tears to my eyes. Literally. Ethan is studying the Depression, and the issue of shame was a big one then too. Until people realized that they weren't alone and communities started to see that they were in it together and needed to band together and help each other. Those who had room took in boarders. The boarders provided money for food for all. Lots of people left home related to poverty and shame, but those who stayed and faced their situation were helped by those around them.

I hope we are equipped to deal with hunger on this level again. The backpack program has tripled the number of children in it over the past year. Now that the combination of unemployment and those deemed unemployable is hovering close to 20%, that number is likely to rise. It represents a barometer of how the country is faring through this economic crisis--these are the canaries in the coal mine, and what they tell me is frightening and I am not sure what to do about it.

One thing is to start talking about it. I think this is the softly ticking bomb that won't go off for another decade when these undernourished kids don't reach their educational potential because they didn't have enough nutrition for brain development. While I contribute a can or two to food drives and am philosophically attuned with donating extra food at large catered events to the folks that feed those in need every day, I think this is probably no where near enough. It is time the backpack program to happen everywhere. Children hoarding their backpack food so that they can make it through Christmas break should not happen.