How can we feed American children living below the poverty level?

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   Catherine Kaneposted 12 years ago

   How can we feed American children living below the poverty level?
   
   Per one resource I consulted, 21% of all American children are living below the poverty level. That's over 1 in 5 children. When you're poor, getting enough to eat can be a challenge, let alone nutritious food that will let you do things like grow up strong and healthy and learn things to lift yourself out of poverty.
   I know the school lunch program does a lot, as does Feedig America and other charities like that. What are your ideas for how we can see that American children do not go hungry?

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   MickSposted 12 years ago

   By implementing a social progremme that ensures, at that at the very least, no one starves.  To which countries in the two American continents were you refering?

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      Catherine Kaneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      My apologies- I was speaking of the US.

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   Agantumposted 12 years ago

   Americans throw out 200,000 tons of good food a day and still manage to eat more than they need to, enough extra calories to feed another 80 million people.
   There are 75 million children and if 1 in 5 is going hungry, that is 15 million eating less than they should.  It looks like there is plenty of food to feed all of them.  I guess some people just don't like to share.

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      Catherine Kaneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      One of the things Feeding America does is put "surplus food" together w/ food pantries and other ways to get food to the hungry. Pretty smart

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      Agantumposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      There is enough food in the country. Feeding America help distribute some of this food. The government tries with SNAP. The problem looks solvable and yet it endures. Is there any time or place when there was no hunger. Will there be. I hope so.

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   Express10posted 12 years ago

   More churches and community groups should get involved, they are closest to and in better positions to give assistance literally in the children's neighborhoods. Many households experiencing this problem literally can't afford the costs to travel to other parts of their city or to other cities to get free food, if they have access to any mode of transportation at all.
   
   Also, neighbors may know that there is financial strain and if they can offer anything it's usually appreciated. However, if the family is too proud to accept or wary of asking for help, perhaps leaving a "care box" on their front porch would allow them to meet their need without them feeling the need to act like nothing is wrong.
   
   I used to work at a charity that helps the hungry and during the summer, the child hunger problem only worsens. Did you know that there are some places in the country where feeding the hungry is publicly discouraged or even against the law? This includes places such as churches and soup kitchens and public areas such as parks where people wish to feed the hungry?

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      Catherine Kaneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I did not know about the law against helping. That's shocking.
      
      Did know child hunger gets worse when schools are closed...
      
      I agree churches and community groups can help, but a network lets more prosperous areas help less prosperous ones as well

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