Hunger-Free Summer: What do you tell the kids?
Author: Stephanie Childs, ConAgra Foods Foundation
This summer, I had the good fortune to work with Katharine McPhee. She joined the ConAgra Foods Foundation and Feeding America to bring attention to our Hunger-Free Summer initiative.
Throughout the tour, she would regularly explain that she was volunteering at Hunger-Free Summer locations across the nation in order to lend her voice to the efforts to fight hunger and to bring some sunshine into the day for children who rely on summer food programs like those supported by our Hunger-Free Summer grant.
During one interview, a reporter asked her what she tells the kids about why she’s visiting. Katharine’s response? She doesn’t tell them much.
Katharine’s focus was on having fun with the kids and brightening their days. When it came to explaining the issue of child hunger, she was talking to the adults who need to know that there are resources for families in need and facing hunger.
Katharine is right. As we’re finding solutions to end child hunger in America, our work isn’t about telling kids in need that they are in need or to point out that their families struggle to pay the bills and put meals on the table. Our responsibility is to do what we can to provide children with the meals, resources and skills they need to become successful.
Summer is coming to a close, but our work to ensure that children have access to nutritious meals all year isn’t done. In fact, we’re already beginning to plan for next year’s Hunger-Free Summer to make it even more successful.
If you work with a food bank or a children’s summer food program in your community, mark your calendars now. In February 2011, Feeding America will begin its selection process for next year’s Hunger-Free Summer grant recipients.
Working together, we can make sure more kids have a fun-filled Hunger-Free Summer.
Photo Credit: ConAgra Foods Foundation. In the above photo, Katharine McPhee plays with kids who rely on the services provided by the Arkansas Foodbank Network. Arkansas Foodbank Network was one of 23 Hunger-Free Summer grant recipients.
