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“What’s for dinner?”
We have all asked that question, usually under the guise of deciding among several options. What if those options didn’t exist, and the question of what’s for dinner was a daily struggle of “when will I eat again?” We all know what it’s like when we get “hangry,” that first-world condition, but think about the impact of persistent hunger and food insecurity, which is a third-world condition alive and well in our own community.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 25) reminds us that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.” Thus, in this nation or in any nation, hunger and food insecurity represent an injustice, a threat to our health and the absence of a fundamental right. And, as Dr. Martin Luther King wrote, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Now, please recognize the difference between hunger, which is a physical experience, and food insecurity, a psychological experience. Further, imagine those thoughts, the physical aspects of hunger and the psychological impact of not knowing where or when the next meal may be, think of them being housed in a child, day in and day out. The result can lead to a condition known as toxic stress. To paraphrase Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a pediatrician working with traumatized children, imagine the stress of being attacked by a bear. Now imagine coming home to the bear night after night after night.
In children, according to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital, toxic stress can lead to short attention spans, struggle to learn and falling behind in school, response to the world as a constant danger, distrustful of adults, unable to develop healthy peer relationships, and feelings of failure and despair. No one, adults or children, likes to go places where they feel endangered and don’t trust those around them. Imagine that place being a child’s world. In the mind of a child, that place produces biochemical changes in the brain. Leading to feelings of despair. Couple these facets with parents who also are hungry and have the same question about “when will I eat again?” Previous research in the journal for Child Development shows that when parents are hungry, they tend to be irritable, harsh and impatient with their children. And when we are irritable and impatient, we engage less with our children, hindering positive child development.
From an education perspective, children who experience food insecurity in early childhood are more likely to start kindergarten less ready than children from food-secure homes.
Children who are hungry are not able to focus, so they have a low attention span, behavioral issues, discipline issues in the school, and when that happens, it can impact the entire classroom
And without the right nutrients, the brain cannot develop properly, resulting in long-term effects on learning abilities.
We at Dinners for Kids could go on with detailing the negative consequences of childhood hunger and food insecurity, but you and I know it. I’m pretty sure that at one time or another, each of us has looked upon the face of a hungry child. I’m asking you to not turn away, and to help that child and help us to diminish food insecurity and hunger in our own community.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2018, the U.S. documented food insecurity in approximately 11% of all households. Food insecurity was higher in households with children, households headed by a single mother (or a single father), households classified as Black (non-Hispanic) and Hispanic households. These facts reinforce the need for ongoing assistance and services to U.S. households and families.
Approximately 440,000 children in the state of Pennsylvania (16% of children) lived in food-insecure households between 2016 and 2018. Thus, the Annie Casey Foundation ranks PA 21st among the U.S. (the national average is 17% of all children). And these statistics reflect our national data before the current pandemic. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. households spent on average $50 per person per week on food; households with low food security spent on average $41.67.
In Luzerne County, according to Feeding America, there are 12,480 children in Luzerne County living with food insecurity. We at Dinners for Kids provide dinners for 160 children currently. There is need to grow.
Public and private organizations do this work every day of every week, with little recognition and in the context of both competing demands and now a growing pandemic.
Unfortunately, like many ongoing human needs, childhood hunger does not end or go away, even when we work to end it or as we wish it were not so. Our organizations, employers and employees, and our volunteers continue to share the responsibility of feeding our children; thank you for all you do.
Dinners for Kids was established to fight childhood hunger. We do what our title implies; we provide daily prepared nutritious and balanced dinners, accompanied with fresh fruit, to 160 at-risk children referred to us by social workers of schools and child care agencies. While other programs provide school or daytime meals for children, no other program provides what we provide: dinners for school-age children. What we can provide you is opportunities to volunteer for a most worthy effort, tax-deductible donations, and an opportunity for you to know that you have put a smile on a child’s face and increased the chances for that child to do better in school. Please visit our web site at Dinners4Kids.org for information on how you can help.
If you are a current supporter, volunteer or donor, we thank you. If you aren’t, we hope you will consider helping our efforts to fight childhood hunger and food insecurity.
Dinners for Kids Board of Directors
Bob Borwick, President
Rick Sell, Vice President
Gary Williams, Treasure
Mike Zimmerman, Secretary
David Tevet, Executive Director
Matt Borwick
Tom Cesarini
Charles dancheck
Jacklyn Dagnan
Mary Beth Farrell
Rebeca Glassman
Kathie Flanagan Herstek
Jessica Ives
Kelly Lyons
Susan McDonald
Melissa Myers
Mary Siegel