Vacation for Hunger? Food Bank and Agency Demand Rises during Summer

America's Second Harvest
Tuesday, 5 June 2001

The school year is winding down and children are looking forward to the long lazy days of summer vacation. For the one in five children who face hunger in our country, summer is a mixed blessing. They are among the more than 15 million low-income children who receive free or reduced-price lunch through the USDA's National School Lunch Program. Studies have shown these meals provide between one-third and one-half of the nutrients that participating children consume every weekday during the school year.

America's Second Harvest affiliates report dramatic increases in the number of children at their feeding sites, food pantries, soup kitchen lines, and at Kids Cafes, a national program geared toward children's nutritional needs. Community based organizations, schools, park districts, local governments, and faith-based charities are providing structured summer programs that include meals and snacks as a major component. At the same time USDA provides meals for 3.2 million children nationally through its summer nutrition programs.

Despite these innovative programs, more action is needed to end child hunger in the U.S. "No child should be hungry; and no parent should have to face the problem of how to feed his or her child. Yet, when summer vacation arrives, we have an increased demand for food in hunger relief agencies across America. As a nation we must find a solution that ends child hunger, in summer and throughout the year," said Robert Forney, President and Chief Executive Officer of America's Second Harvest.

USDA reports that the number of children served free and reduced price lunch has increased every year in the past five years. During the same time, the number of families receiving food stamps, the nation's bedrock anti-hunger program, have declined by one third even though the number of Americans who face hunger has remained steady at about 31 million over the same period. -more-

Clearly, child hunger is an important story deserving of the nation's attention. To draw attention to the challenges facing children and their families in the summer, America's Second Harvest, ConAgra Foods Feeding Children Better and the Ad Council have initiated a three-year public awareness campaign to disarm the disbelief that 12 million children in America face hunger every day. The public service ads are scheduled to appear in national and local media outlets beginning in June 2001 and remind Americans "The sooner you believe it, the sooner we can end it."

For more information, or to contact America's Second Harvest, see their website at: www.secondharvest.org