This post is brought to you by No Kid Hungry. All opinions are my own.
As a former elementary school teacher (East Harlem for five years and Jamaica for one year), many of my students relied on the free breakfast and lunch offered in school. For many of them, those were two meals that they could count on without fail. And it broke my heart. One in six kids in America lives with hunger, and that is millions of kids who face the day on an empty stomach because there isn’t enough food at home. The number in New York is also 1 in 6. 6 out of 7 hungry kids don’t get the summer meals they need. For kids who rely on the free meals they get at school, summer can be the hungriest time of year. Free summer meals sites at schools and community centers are the answer. Here’s something that can help – parents, guardians and caregivers can text ‘FOOD’ or ‘COMIDA’ to 877-877 to find free summer meals for your kids.
No Kid Hungry Helps Kids in Need Find Summer Meals Easily Via Text
Last week my youngest son and I hung out with No Kid Hungry and corporate partner Citi at CitiField. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization working to end hunger and poverty. 83% of teachers worry about their students not having enough to eat in the summer. In New York, summer meals sites are serving only 27% of the meals that kids need. By spreading the word about the availability of free summer meals, perhaps we can change that?
We enjoyed face painting, beanbag toss, and decorating baseball hats.
I even got to take my photo with Mr. Met (who surprisingly didn’t remember me the last time we met in 2017). I’ve been lucky to go to several Mets games over the years and I will always be a fan because my grandfather Ben Glassman was a huge fan.
The purpose of this fun event was a serious reason — to spread awareness about how to text to find free summer meals for kids in need. Thank you to Citi for being No Kid Hungry’s wonderful partner!
No Kid Hungry is ending childhood hunger through programs that provide kids with the food they need. Schools and community groups across the country run summer meals sites where kids can eat breakfast and lunch for free. No Kid Hungry helps local organizations launch and operate these sites, and also helps fund needed equipment like coolers or mobile meals trucks. However, summer meals sites aren’t much good if families don’t know about them. That’s where you come in.
Over a million families have used No Kid Hungry’s texting service to find free summer meals for their kids.
I’m asking for your help spreading the word about the summer texting number: Text ‘FOOD’ or ‘COMIDA’ to 877-877 to find free summer meals for your kids. Learn more at http://bit.ly/2VXxFLH
Please share my post or the instructions on how to text to find summer meal sites with your community!
#ShareSummer @NoKidHungry #SummerMeals #NoKidHungry
No Kid Hungry, Share Summer, summer meals, hunger, childhood hunger
This is such an awesome program! I love that programs like this are being established to help more kids live a better life and eat more nutritious food!
This is such a great program. I hope this program gets really big and spreads throughout .
What a wonderful program. Hunger isn’t sesonal or discriminate. I will gladly share this post because no child should ever be hungry.
This is such an awesome cause! It truly is sad how many kids go without during the summer months when school is out of session because that don’t have someone providing them meals. Love that your are sharing this message to get the word out!