**Full Disclosure: This sponsored discussion about childhood hunger is made possible by ConAgra foods and The Motherhood.
Do you know what child hunger looks like in America? Do you know what the food insecurity rate is in your community?
Before this campaign, I did not.
16 million kids in America aren’t getting the food they need. Let that number sink in for a minute – 16 MILLION. That’s nearly one in five children who live in a household that struggles to put food on the table. Those kids may look no different than other children because child hunger in America is often invisible.
Food insecurity is the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate (and safe) food. The chart above shows what food insecurity looks like in Texas. Over 18% (the equivalent of almost 5 million people) don’t know where their food is coming from. I can’t even imagine what kind of anxiety and uncertainty that creates.
Food-insecure children are 90% more likely to have their overall health reported as “fair/poor” (as opposed to the “excellent/good” kids from food-secure homes receive). Food insecurity is linked to increased hospitalizations, developmental problems, headaches, stomachaches and even colds. Childhood hunger has also been linked to significant health problems in adulthood.
What can you do to help? It’s really easy. ConAgra Foods is partnering with P&G to build a community of people to make a difference and help donate up to 7 million meals through the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign! Look for the red pushpin and locate the 8-digit code found on specially marked ConAgra Foods and P&G products. For each code entered at www.ChildHungerEndsHere.com from March-August 2014, ConAgra Foods or P&G, respectively, will donate the monetary equivalent of one meal to Feeding America.
Challenge: I challenge each and every one of you to enter as many codes as you can! Together we can all make a difference, because no child should go hungry.
One of the easiest ways to learn how to get involved is to join the Child Hunger Ends Here Facebook community or follow the news on Twitter and Instagram at @ChildHungerEnds.
How much do you know about child hunger? Fill out this quick reader survey to help ConAgra Foods and the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign gauge awareness.
Did you know what child hunger in America looked like before reading this?
Thank you for the reminder that this campaign is back. It breaks my heart to know that there are children and families here in America that don’t have enough if any food.
This is one of the causes I’m passionate about, it is a reality that should be fantasy. I’m going to double check all the P&G products in my house.
So glad to see that brands are helping to raise money to stop child hunger right here in America.
Those numbers are astonishing. I can’t imagine the stress on the parents and children to be unsure whether or not they will have their next meal. I feel a little guilty for that times that I look at a full fridge and say “There’s nothing to eat.”
Exactly! I do the same thing (and FAR too often).
i remember working on Child HUnger Ends Here a few years ago. The statistics are staggering. There is no reason anyone should ever be hungry