Millions of Children Return to School This Fall Too Hungry to Learn

America's Second Harvest
Monday, 19 August 2002

New Public Service Campaign Highlights Harsh Reality of Child Hunger in the United States and Encourages Americans to Take Action

Notebooks, backpacks, pencils - of all the essential school supplies parents buy, food may be the most important to their children's academic success. Unfortunately, nearly one in five children in America is hungry or at risk of going hungry, and 13 million children in this country live in households that haven't enough to eat or do not know where their next meal will come from. A new public service campaign launched this month by ConAgra Foods' Feeding Children Better Foundation, the Advertising Council and America's Second Harvest highlights the harsh reality of child hunger in the United States and provides Americans with an opportunity to help their community's children at a vital time - as they return back to school.

The impact of hunger on students' academic performance is alarming. According to research reported in The Consequences of Hunger and Food Insecurity for Children, released this summer by ConAgra Foods' Feeding Children Better Foundation and the Center on Hunger and Poverty, children from food-insecure and hungry families have poorer overall health and, as a result, miss more days of school and are less prepared to learn when they are able to attend. Among the findings:

• Household food hardships are negatively related to certain test and achievement scores for elementary-school children.
• Children from food-insufficient families are more likely to have repeated a grade in school.
• Food-insufficient teenagers are more likely to be suspended from school than other teenagers.

"We must arm our children with the tools they need to succeed in school, which include healthy, nutritious meals," said Lynn Phares, president of ConAgra Foods' Feeding Children Better Foundation, the largest corporate initiative dedicated to fighting child hunger. "Child hunger in America is a solvable problem, and ConAgra Foods believes that increased understanding of child hunger issues in our country will lead to increased involvement in finding solutions."

To raise awareness of child hunger in the U.S. and to encourage Americans to take action in their communities, the new public service announcements (PSAs) dramatize real-life situations facing families today. One PSA, for example, features a mother pleading with the heating company to keep her service connected, showing how she must decide between paying her bill or feeding her children. The PSAs urge Americans to call 1-800 FEED KIDS or to visit www.FeedingChildrenBetter.org to learn how they can take simple steps to prevent children from going hungry. These new PSAs will be available at www.FeedingChildrenBetter.org by August 23, 2002.

"For youngsters whose natural abilities and talents are diminished because of hunger, the cost is obvious," said Dr. J. Larry Brown, director of the Center on Hunger and Poverty. "But the cost also extends to our nation in terms of higher rates of school failure and poorer returns on our educational investments."

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