Creator1

This is a simple question for me. Should children go hungry? To me the answer in my mind is unequivocally ‘no.’ Recent proposed budget suggests we, the taxpayer, cut $12 billion from school meal programs. That’s not a political statement, it’s factual.

Here is another interesting fact, this will mostly affect low-income students who rely on these meal daily, but most federally funded programs mandate that schools offer free meals to ALL students. Don’t believe me, here’s a link to the fact sheet for the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program.

What can you do if this upsets you? You can call your representatives, it sounds corny, but this actually works. I don’t mean just your senator or congressional representatives, call your state, county, mayoral, borough leadership, etc. Let them know this is unacceptable. I have been and continue to do this. Another way you can help prevent this is by reaching out to your local schools and asking what their policy is for donating food.

Where I live, these cuts will affect over 200,000 children. Almost hard to picture, two hundred thousand kids. That’s enough kids to fill up Michigan Stadium (American’s largest stadium by capacity), twice, in my state alone. If you think that’s bad, and it is in case you thought it wasn’t, California is predicting almost 2.5 million children will lose access to school meals. To put that into perspective, there are 15 states, D.C, and four territories who have entire populations less than the amount of children in California affected by these cuts. Please see this link to see a map of your state and see how many children are affected. I urge you to call your elected officials and demand that children continue to receive the proper nutrition to learn and succeed.

The states and territories mentioned above are New Mexico, Nebraska, Idaho, West Virginia, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands.