Just Another U.S. map, right?
Except that this map is color coded to display the levels of our population who are currently food insecure. What does "food insecure" mean? Being Food Insecure is pretty straight-forward. It means that you do NOT know that there will be food in your belly tomorrow night, or maybe even tonight. In a country so abundant in food production to the point that approximately 40% is thrown into the trash every year, how is it possible that so many people are in such great need of nutrition?
Perhaps the hardest statistic to digest is this: 1 out of 6 children in the US fall into the food insecure category. ONE OUT OF SIX children in this country, a country which is literally OVERFLOWING with food, go to bed hungry every night.
You may be wondering, "How is this possible? Don't we have programs to combat this hunger? Doesn't anybody care enough to fight this?"
People care! Programs exist! They exist, but one of the difficulties for those who are in need is connecting with the assistance that is available. In the school year, for instance, over 20 million children receive free lunches at school through government assistance programs, but only approximately 2 million children continue to participate in summertime food programs. The need does not suddenly disappear from June-August. Families still struggle to obtain ample, nutritious sustenance; but lack of education about resources and/or affordable transportation results in an enormous discrepancy of assistance being received.
ConAgra Foods Foundation is in its 4th year of a 5 year pledge to help eliminate summertime child hunger. This summer, 29 food banks in 20 states will receive Hunger Free Summer grants, ranging from $20,000 to $50,000, to benefit programs that strive to take the extra step in helping the neediest of our citizens through extensive outreach.
What can you do to help today? The simplest thing of all is to click on this YouTube video, narrated by Chris O'Donnell and watch it all the way to the end. For every completed view, ConAgra will donate the monetary equivalent* of one meal to Feeding America.
And NOW that you've watched it, you have the ability to take it one step further by sharing this video across your social media sites! Again, every completed view = 1 meal for a very hungry child. When was the last time you were able to feed a hungry child by watching a YouTube video?
*Monetary equivalent of one meal is approximately $.13
Any facts not attributed or linked otherwise can be found on the ConAgra Foods Foundation Website or Feeding America website.