Persuasive Essay On Child Hunger

In the United States many citizens face hunger, starvation and malnutrition on a daily basis. This food insecurity affects millions of Americans. Food insecurity is caused when Americans don’t have enough money to purchase food for themselves and their family. When children experience hunger if affects them both physically and psychologically. “Children who are denied an adequate diet are at a greater risk of not reaching their full potential as individuals. Undernourished youngsters have trouble concentrating and bonding with other children and are more likely to suffer illnesses resulting in school absences.” (Karger, p 371) It is important for children to meet their full potential in order for society to continue thriving into the future. If children are not receiving an adequate education because they have an empty stomach, then they will not continue to higher education or they will do poorly. In order to combat hunger in children the federal government responded with several major programs. Two of the programs the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) are targeted towards school age children. These programs provide students with breakfast and lunch while they are at school.

School lunches are often unsung heroes of many modern American households. Frequently overlooked and disregarded because of their stigma, school lunches are a key ingredient that may help make the world a better place. Unknowingly, great numbers of individuals in our communities deal with food insecurities every day of their lives. It baffles me that in an advanced society many people do not have the resources to provide food for themselves or their families. Until it affected me personally, I was unaware nor passionate about the struggles of food insecurity. My passion for solving food insecurity in my local community has led me to gain both experience and leadership through understanding and advocating for those around me.

One in six children in the United States do not know when they will get their next meal. Children who are facing hunger struggle in school, are more likely to repeat a grade, have developmental concerns and have behavioral problems. The National School Lunch Program has brought meals to millions of children from food insecure families for free or reduced rates.

More than 44 million people in 2009 were identified as living in food insecurity, the USDA’s current term for going hungry (Imhoff 17). The government, nonprofits and other organizations have been drafting potential solutions for a while to solve world hunger, but the number of food insecure people is still exceptionally high and on the rise. The complete abolishment of it is presumably unattainable, but reducing it to a much smaller amount is certainly possible and a necessity. All American citizens are targets. One economic depression or catastrophic mishap may leave you in food insecurity and desperate need for help. So don't you wish our country has a well-functioning system able to support us all? The US’s main answer to food insecurity is the Farm Bill. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs(SNAP) is the major program contained in the bill. From 2008-2010, 72.3% of the farm bill and 53.1 billion dollars was dedicated to SNAP, and current enrollment in it is at the highest (Imhoff 52). Is SNAP the best solution to widespread hunger? Should the United States dedicate so much money in effort to it? “The current SNAP program is so deeply flawed, the United States should draft another “food stamp” policy and remove it from the Food Bill.

One in four American children live in food-insecure households, meaning that they lack adequate access to food of any type, not just food with significant nutritional value (Ford, 2013, p. 58). As these families are the most likely to have children who both leave for and return home from school to an empty house, they are also the most likely to have children who prepare meals for themselves. Often, children fail to nourish themselves, skipping meals when they are running late or because they find nothing in the pantry they are capable of preparing. These students ready themselves (and sometimes siblings) for school and frequently don’t take their first meal until mid-day, losing precious hours of instructional time to distraction over food, fatigue due to low levels of nourishment, and other physical ailments tied to poor nutrition. If school breakfasts were free and readily available to all public school students, morning meals would be

People live in a complex world where things are never as simple as they seem. Officials agree that in order for students to perform well in school, their basic needs have to be met (in conjunction with the ideas of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs). While schools may not be able to provide a safe place to sleep or warm clothing during the winter, they can provide a healthy, nutritious meal. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, the number of children under 18 years of age living below the federal poverty level of $23,550 for a family of four represent 21.1% of the population (“Child Poverty,” n.d.). The National Lunch Act and its subsequent revisions have sought to mitigate the effects of hunger. Unfortunately, there are other circumstances that affect the desired outcomes of serving a balanced meal to students in need.

The National School Lunch Program is a federally funded meal program operating in over 100,000 public. It provides nutritionally balanced, low‐cost or free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day in 2012 based on the child's household income (USDA). The program is managed by the Food and Nutrition Service at the Federal level and by a State education agency at the state level. We will be looking at the statistics of the National Lunch Program for five local schools, and compare the number of students enrolled in the districts and the percentage that are receiving free or discounted meals at school. Additionally, the requirements to be eligible to participate in the program, as well as the reimbursement the school

The one thing that we all need is Food. In the U.S. and all over the world there are many people who lack the funds to buy food and millions of starving children. Anna states in her essay that most kids have trouble getting food when school is out because that is the primary source that provides breakfast and lunch. “Summer is really ground zero in the battle to keep kids fed.” (pg 224)

In numerous incidences around the country schools have reportedly denied their students school lunches because their lunch accounts are overdrawn in some cases by only a couple dollars (Green). Also, traditional packed lunches are under fire, in part, because some administrators who feel that the lunches are not nutritious enough for students have banned them (Eng, Hood). Because some school children are going hungry and have no other means of obtaining a meal during the school day, the school lunch program needs to take additional measures to ensure that the needs of all US students are being met.

No Kid Hungry educated school based leaders, elected and business leaders, community groups and private citizens about the prevalence of childhood hunger while at the same time connecting eligible students and families with services. They encourage the use of the school lunch program, but focus efforts on lesser utilized programs such as those that provide nutritious meals afterschool, during the summer and for breakfast. No Kid Hungry also supports schools and school systems in establishing and maintaining hunger prevention programs and, “implementing solutions that break down the barriers that keep kids from healthy food,” (NCHNC, 2016).

“Fifteen million students get free or cut-rate lunches at school, and many of them get breakfast, too.” When summer hits the lunch programs aren't available to those students who need it. This leaves them without one or even two meals a day. Families don't always have the money to send their children to camps or services that provide them with a lunch

Hunger in Your Backyard “And hunger in the United States, particularly since the institution of so-called welfare reform, is an epidemic.” Hunger is a problem worldwide, but many people fail to realise that there is hunger right in their hometown. Anna Quindlen’s essay “School’s Out for the Summer” successfully persuades the reader on the gravity of child hunger in America, while using efficacious evidence to support her statement. Quindlen brings to light the reality of underfed children that many did not know of.

However, if this was the case then it would not be true that “food insecurity affects 16 million children in the United States” (O’Malley). This study noted that “the most difficult part of identifying and addressing food insecurity lies in the details associated with screening” (O’Malley) for it. The problem is often the need for parents to admit to other issues within the family and find resources when they are already strapped with many burdens. As noted before, this screening process is easily done by teachers who are in contact with students on a regular basis, unlike pediatricians who are currently in charge of screening during standardized visits, checking for hunger in the “process in routine well-child care” (O’Malley). Families struggling with hunger may not have the resources to visit doctors on a regular basis. Children suffering from hungry will not be able on their own to reach out to these charitable organizations or food banks, but they can advocate for themselves and their families while at school. So these charitable organizations should team up with the schools in order to put services where they are far more accessible, particularly to children in

A recent study conducted by the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP) recorded that nearly 8% of American children under the age of 12 years old continuously experience hunger each year. The project also concluded that childhood hunger could be related to a lack of resources. The study also examined the relationship between food insufficiencies found in low income school aged children and their abilities to mentally function. Alarmingly, the study found that hungry and at-risk for hunger children were twice as likely as children receiving adequate meals to be classified as having impaired functioning. The study also reported that Teachers noted increased levels of hyperactivity, absenteeism, and tardiness among the lower

This information told them that 1 in 8 people, 13.4%, lived in homes without dependable access to meals. However, this number was a substantial decrease from the previous year, 2014, which had 48 million people worried about adequate food. Unfortunately, the percentage is greatly increased for the number of children who go hungry compared to the overall rate. The rate of child hunger is 17.9% meaning that every 1 in 6 children do not know when their next meal will be. (“What is the Issue”) This study also discovered that 26% of people make too much to qualify for most of these federal supplemental programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This results in 20% of children going hungry because they live in these households.