Introduction Hunger is a huge problem all around the world. The North Carolina food bank says “One in four children in North Carolina are food insecure.” You are used to having breakfast lunch and dinner everyday, well some people don’t have that chance. Some are given a free and reduced lunch in wake county. In one month in 2017 there were 50,886 kids (WCPSS 2017) that used the reduced lunch opportunity. In North Carolina there are almost 630,000 homes without enough to eat (Inter Faith Food Shuttle) . We are interested in hunger around North Carolina because too many people die just because they don’t get fed the necessary meals. What do kids do over the summer when they have no school and can’t get a free lunch from school? There are so many organizations open to help the hungry. This doesn't mean people can access them, some have transportation problems, or they don’t know about the organizations. We need to make food more available to people who need it.
Society needs to try harder to help the ones in need. We should do more to prevent hunger in this world. It is too hard to buy healthy produce due to the high prices but the worst foods in the markets are also the cheapest ones and for some families, is the only foods that they can afford. Citizens need to see that the world isn't as perfect as it is deemed as, there are extreme problems in this world that can be made better. This is why we are interested in helping the cause.
The Issue Hunger in North Carolina has increased drastically, one in four children in North Carolina are food insecure. North Carolina has one of the highest percentages in the United States of children who are food insecure on the daily basis . (hunger in America study 2014)”. “Almost 630,000 north carolina households don’t have enough food to eat” (Inter faith food shuttle) .“North Carolina has the 8th highest rate of food insecurity in the nation (Inter faith food shuttle)”In North Carolina, food insecurity is rapidly on the rise. “Hunger in North carolina has increased from 12.6% to 19.6%” ( in a growing state, growing hunger 2013). “One in four are food insecure in North Carolina” (nc food banks 2018).
The cause of hunger is sometimes National disasters like floods & earthquakes. But other times it’s just because of the lack of jobs. Poverty is also another cause of hunger. Hunger affects the brain function, how can we expect a student to do well in school when they don’t have enough food to it. You can’t do well and get good grades in school when you don’t have any food to eat. Schools give free lunch and breakfast but what about in the summer break, winter break or on the weekends? If we don’t take care of this issue now, more and more kids will be scared and worried about what they are going to eat tonight. This issue is not gonna get fixed by itself we have to do something and do it quick!
The Solution Agencies in North Carolina such as Rise Against Hunger and Inter-Faith Food Shuttle help give families who can't get food every day get food by donations. The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle also does a program called BackPack Buddies. BackPack Buddies is designed to provide children from low-income households with 10-12 pounds of nutritious kid friendly groceries for the weekend when free school lunches and breakfasts are not provided. The Food Shuttle works with each school system and individual schools to identify need. School officials at each site then identify students to receive BackPack Buddies.(Inter-Faith Food Shuttle)
Many food agencies also have a School Pantry program that the school staff run. School Pantries help students get food before they leave school so that they can feed themselves and their families. (Inter-Faith Food Shuttle). Even Though these agencies and these programs exist this is still not enough to help people and families get food every night. We can still do alot to help these people and families get a meal each night. 19.6 percent of children in Wake county lives in food insecure homes (Food Insecurity Statistics).
So what can we do to help these families get the meals they need? We can donate to these agencies. BackPack Buddies is looking for donations so that they can continue to help children across Wake county get the meals they need to survive. All these agencies need money to keep helping our community get meals. Agencies also need volunteers to deliver food to these peoples doors. You can also host a food drive or donate food to these agencies. If more people start contributing and helping, this issue will get much better and help better our community and a society as a whole.