Petition Congress: Support Child Nutrition Programs

Dear Congress:

"Our nation’s child nutrition programs feed nearly 19 million kids each day.

School lunch, breakfast, and summer feeding programs are critical to making sure kids who live on the brink of hunger have enough to eat.

I urge you to support a $1 billion increase in funding for child nutrition."

Sincerely,

On his radio show last week, Rush Limbaugh blasted successful school feeding programs and suggested the best way to end childhood hunger this summer is to encourage kids to look for food in their local dumpsters.

Hungry children may be a laugh line to Rush Limbaugh, but to us, they are our future.

Hunger Myths

As a Christian voice to end hunger, we believe God cares deeply about the needs of hungry kids.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells his disciples: “When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.… Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”

Besides offending the dignity of children who live on the brink of hunger, Limbaugh’s video raises several myths about hunger.

Myth: You can't be obese and malnourished.

Fact: Hunger and obesity can co-exist. Families who struggle to put food on the table often turn to low-quality, high-calorie food to satisfy their hunger. The combination can lead to obesity. Source: The Paradox of Hunger and Obesity in America, FRAC, 2004

Myth: All people who work can earn enough to provide their children with the essentials necessary for good health.

Fact: In most areas of the country, a family of four needs to earn twice the poverty line to provide children with basic necessities. More than one in eight people in the United States lives below the poverty line—which was $21,756 for a family of four in 2009. One in five children in the United States lives below the poverty line. Source: National Center for Children in Poverty, 2008

Myth: No one in the United States goes hungry.

Fact: Nearly one in four children is at risk of hunger. Among African-Americans and Latinos, one in three children is at risk of hunger. Source: Household Food Security in the United States, 2008. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, November 2009. (Table 1B, Table 6)

Myth: People always have a choice about whether or not they have access to healthy food.

Fact: It’s easy to look at a person who is diabetic because of obesity and think that this person’s problem is self-control—until you realize there are no places for her or him to buy healthy foods.

On the Blackfeet Indian reservation in Montana, for example, it’s a half-day drive to the nearest supermarket. Nutrition programs are helpful, but they don’t solve the food-access problem in a community with only fast food restaurants and convenience stores. Source: Bread for the World Institute, Hunger Report 2010

Myth: It’s better to let children eat out of dumpsters than to offer them basic food assistance.

Fact: Nearly one in four children in our country live on the brink of hunger. School feeding programs feed nearly 19 million children each day. Only 11 percent of those children receive meals in the summer. Dumpster diving is not the solution. Source: Bread for the World