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Photos of families and what they eat during the week across the globe.

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Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio traveled the world documenting that most basic of human behaviors -- what we eat.

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North Carolina contacts for No Kid Hungry

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FFORC: Meet Our Team - UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

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UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

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The experts in the field

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Meet Our Experts - Food Research & Action Center

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This paper analyzes why SNAP benefits are inadequate, reviews the body of research showing positive effects from more adequate SNAP benefits, and concludes with some of the key policy solutions that can improve benefit adequacy.

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An influential ally for the world's poor.

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The Borgen Project is working to ensure a strong global response to COVID-19 (coronavirus). We know that not a single country will defeat this highly-contagious virus, until every country has defeated it. Read the latest news on COVID-19 in Africa.

"If there is one country in the world that still has the coronavirus, the whole world has it."

- Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Media Mentions

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The Borgen Project is working to ensure a strong global response to COVID-19 (coronavirus). We know that not a single country will defeat this highly-contagious virus, until every country has defeated it. Read the latest news on COVID-19 in Africa.

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Nutrition Education

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Nutrition & Diabetes | Onslow County, NC

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Registered Dietitians are available to provide nutrition counseling for a variety of health concerns.

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Local outreach program

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Onslow Community Outreach 600 Court Street Jacksonville, NC 28540 P: 910-455-5733

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Solving hunger in your communic

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The Problem...

Childhood hunger in Onslow County is rampant. Kids without adequate food over the weekend often suffer from stomachaches, the inability to focus, chronic absences, and frequent headaches. Long-term food insecurity can also result in behavioral problems, lower physical functions, and depressive disorders, especially in adolescents.

The Call to Action...

When staff at Dixon Elementary noticed these tell-tale signs in their students, they realized they must act! The PTO, business leaders, area churches, local nonprofits, and United Way met and developed the CHEW! Program to respond to this urgent need.

How it Works

The CHEW! Program assists children in our community by providing backpacks filled with child-friendly, easy to prepare meals over the weekend. Every week, volunteers from the community pack the backpacks, which are distributed to children on Friday and returned on Monday. Since it's creation, schools across Onslow County have been looking to replicate this successful model.

Twenty seven schools currently operate as a CHEW Site: Blue Creek Elementary, Clyde Erwin Elementary, Dixon Elementary, Dixon Middle, Dixon High, Meadowview Elementary, Morton Elementary, Northwoods Elementary, Northwoods Park Middle, Parkwood Elementary, Heritage Elementary, Richlands Elementary, Southwest Elementary, Southwest Middle, State Side Elementary, Trexler Middle, Summersill Elementary, Jacksonville High, Bell Fork Elementary, Hunters Creek Elementary, Huners Creek Middle, Northsde High, Whit Oak High, New Bridge Middle, Jacksonville Commons Elementary, Jacksonville Commons Middle, and Richlands High.

How Can YOU Help?

CHEW! is in need of food or monetary donations to stock and maintain supplies of non-perishable food items that will provide nutrition for children each weekend. Food donations may be dropped off at at any of the participating CHEW Schools or United Way's office at 403 N Bayshore Blvd. in Jacksonville. You can also make a tax-deductable donation to United Way of Onslow County and designate CHEW! as the recipient. As a Partner Agency of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC, United Way is able to purchase specifically-needed food items at reduced costs, which allow for donations to go farther. Lastly, you can host a food drive at your church or place of work. Boxes and helpful hints can be provided!

Backpack Buddy- 1 Week: $7.00

Backpack Buddy- 1 Month: $28.00

Backpack Buddy- 6 Months: $168.00

Backpack Buddy- 1 Year: $336.00

Non-perishable child-friendly foods and easy to prepare meals are always needed. (For Safety Reasons, please do not donate glass items)

Canned Soup [Chicken Noodle, Tomato, Potato]

Peanut Butter

Jelly (in plastic jars)

Ravioli / Spaghetti-o's

Crackers

Canned Fruit/Fruit Cups

Snack Bars/Fruit Snacks

Spaghetti / Sauce

Canned Vegetables [Mixed Vegetables, Corn, Green Beans, Peas, Carrots]

Mac & Cheese

Complete Meal Boxes/Boxed Meals

Canned Chili

Beef Stew

Beans

Rice

Canned Meat (Tuna, Chicken, Ham)

Individual Instant Mashed Potatoes

Individual Toilet Paper Rolls

Personal Hygiene Items

Host a food drive at your church or place of work. Boxes and helpful hints can be provided!

Contact Shelly Kieweg, Community Impact Director at (910) 347-2646 or email skieweg@uwonslow.org for additional information. To make a monetary donation, click here, or mail your donation (designated to CHEW! and/or the CHEW school ) to United Way of Onslow County, PO Box 5125, Jacksonville, NC 28540.

Visit our new CHEW! website: https://uwonslowchew.weebly.com/

Download a brochure on the CHEW! Program

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Children Healthy Eating on Weekends (CHEW!)

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Childhood hunger in Onslow County is rampant. Kids without adequate food over the weekend often suffer from stomachaches, the inability to focus, chronic absences, and frequent headaches. Long-term food insecurity can also result in behavioral problems, lower physical functions, and depressive disorders, especially in adolescents.

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Perseverance is something that 13-year-old Lidia mentions frequently when describing her life in Dagoretti, a slum community on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.

The eldest of five children, Lidia and her siblings have to skip meals regularly because their mother Catherine cannot afford to buy food, despite working long hours washing clothes. Even when the family does eat, they are only able to use cheap and basic ingredients which lack the range of vital nutrients they need to be healthy.

Image: Tara Carey / Farm Africa

Often the only daily meal Lidia gets is the one she receives at school. Lidia explains, "The last time I ate at home was three days ago. My mum can't be paid every day, so we have to wait because she doesn't have money. We only have dinner three times a week and often the only meal I have is at school."

"I find it hard to go without food. I cannot concentrate in class, I feel cold and my head hurts a lot. My eyes start to ache and I cannot see the blackboard clearly. I love school and my favourite subject is English but sometimes I do not come because I have a headache."

Sadly, this isn't only a problem for Lidia. Her Head Teacher, Jane Waweru, says 85-90% of the pupils at Mutuini Primary School don't get enough to eat and are often too weak to concentrate in class. Although the school does provide a daily serving of rice and beans, the lunch lacks the important additional ingredients that many children are unable to get at home.

Jane Waweru, Head Teacher at Mutuini Primary School
Image: Tara Carey / Farm Africa

Without a regular variety of vegetables, students become malnourished and are at risk of a wide range of serious health problems including stunted growth and impaired cognitive development, both of which are irreversible. Malnourished children are also more vulnerable to disease.

Farm Africa believes that children everywhere deserve a healthy diet so that they can grow well and reach their full potential. That's why this #GivingTuesday on December 1st, we are focusing on schools in Nairobi like Mutuini Primary, where we want to help school communities turn unused land into plentiful vegetable gardens where students, teachers and parents can come together to grow nutritious, fresh vegetables for children to eat at lunch.

Our goal is to help schools and youth clubs establish vegetable plots that will provide them with a plentiful supply of nutritious produce to eat, along with a valuable source of income from selling surplus crops, and a unique opportunity to learn practical farming skills that can benefit the children throughout their lives.

Image: Tara Carey / Farm Africa

"I want to do the farming project because it will help my school. It is important to eat vegetables to get vitamins and energy", says Lidia. "I love coming to school and when I grow up I want to be a nurse. My grades would improve if I was able to eat more."
By making a donation to Farm Africa for #GivingTuesday you could help a school set up its own vegetable garden, giving Lidia and children like her the chance to get the nutritious food they need as well as learning practical farming skills that will help them grow a brighter future.

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Meet Lidia, a 13 yr old from a Kenyan slum who is hungry to learn

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Perseverance is something that 13-year-old Lidia mentions frequently when describing her life in Dagoretti, a slum community on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. The eldest of five children, Lidia and her siblings have to skip meals regularly because their mother Catherine cannot afford to buy food, despite working long hours washing clothes.

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This article from the World Food Programme shows how one meal makes the community a more prosperous place

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In a prefabricated classroom in Aleppo city, students of different ages lean over their notebooks, pen or pencil in hand, writing their lessons or drawing pictures. Almost eight years of conflict have left a trail of devastation in the city, but children are now back in school to learn and grow.

Their concentration is broken by a dinner lady bringing in fresh snacks packs, triggering instant excitement. The children happily receive their packages and begin to munch away.

Hajar, a third grader, bites into a succulent cheese sandwich. She may be young, but she knows the value of education and nutrition. "I learn better in class after my meal," she says.

Hajar's sandwich does more than give her the energy to focus in school. WFP's freshly-prepared meals initiative also benefits the local economy, creating a domino effect of opportunity and hope that touches the lives of everyone across the supply chain, from producer to consumer.

Just as the taste and nutritional value of the snacks result from the combination of different ingredients, it's the coming together of different members of the community - the farmers and bakers who provide their fresh products, the traders and transporters who make them available, the factory workers who package them- that allows the school feeding programme to flourish.

Samer provides the bread for the sandwiches. He lost his bakery several years ago because of the conflict, but now he is back in business. With the fortified wheat flour he receives from WFP, he bakes fresh bread for the daily school meals of 10,000 school children.

The cheese, labna and thyme in the sandwiches come from small and medium-sized traders who receive funds from WFP to buy fresh produce from local farmers in rural Aleppo. The farmers also grow vegetables like cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes which make the sandwiches more nutritious - and tastier.

All these fresh ingredients come together at the local factory of WFP's partner Namaa'. Here, 50 widowed women wash and peel the fruits and vegetables, wrap the sandwiches and package the meals by hand.

While the war has affected the lives of all Syrians, the burden of survival is even greater on women, many of whom have lost their spouses, being left as the breadwinners of large families. With the unemployment rate at 50 percent, it is hard for women to find jobs - and even more so for those who have never worked before as they relied on their husbands.

All of the 50 women preparing the sandwiches have suffered a great loss and have used their employment for the WFP school feeding programme to pull themselves and their families up from the wreckage.

Ola is 37 and the mother of four children. She lost her husband during the conflict. "My children are fully dependent on me," she says.

Before being employed by the sandwich factory, Ola had to pull her eldest son out of school for some time to help her cover the costs of living. Now, she and her co-workers enjoy the security of a steady income. Not only are they supporting the future of their community by helping kids stay in school, but they are also gaining a new sense of self-confidence and self-reliance.

Ola beams with pride as she recounts her latest achievements: "With the steady income, I can provide for my family and I enrolled my son back in school," she says. "I am even able to give the little ones some pocket money," she smiles.

The benefits of this programme are evident - not just for the students.

Their families now can spend less of their income on food, knowing that their children will receive a daily meal that is not only nutritious but also safe, thanks to WFP's work to ensure it is prepared according to strict hygiene standards and procedures.

Before WFP's school feeding project started, local farmers only sold 100 kg of produce on any given day. Now, they supply traders with 400 kg of food every day to cover the requirements of the project. This four-fold increase has invigorated the local market, injecting US$1.3 million into the city's economy, and creating employment opportunities.

On a recent visit to Aleppo, the Director of WFP's School Feeding Service highlighted the community element of the project "From the producers, to the traders, the factory workers and the transporters delivering the meals - school feeding programmes extend into the heart of the community and make a lasting impact."

And the programme continues to grow. Back at the factory, Ola tells us how enrolment in the school she prepares meals for nearly doubled in only one year, from 1,700 students to over 3,000.

"More children are returning to school and those that have returned are staying for much longer. They are always excited to get their lunch. It's the highlight of their day," she says.

"As for me, I am happy I can feed not only my own, but also other Syrian children. In a way, they have become my own family."
Story by Marwa Awad
Learn more about WFP's work to support school feeding around the world

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In a prefabricated classroom in Aleppo city, students of different ages lean over their notebooks, pen or pencil in hand, writing their lessons or drawing pictures. Almost eight years of conflict have left a trail of devastation in the city, but children are now back in school to learn and grow.

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Introducing the rights and responsibilities of the United States

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A 3-minute guide to the Bill of Rights - Belinda Stutzman

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A school harvests vegetables they have grown to make a soup, while also figuring out how to stop the animals from eating the harvest.

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A community comes together to have a meal.

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This is a powerful short video from No Kid Hungry. Parents can be heard expressing their sadness, anxiety and desperation with making sure their family eats. Their voices tell the story of the emotions that you feel when you just don't know where your next meal will come from.

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The powerful first-hand stories - and voices - of six working families who struggle with hunger.

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Nicole Robbins blogged on No Kid Hungry about an experience that she had. She unexpectedly had no food when she came home and no money to buy the food she would need. Luckily, a co-worker came to her rescue. However, she was forced to face the emotions involved with going hungry.

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This documentary was made by Virginia State University. It tackles the topic of food insecurity and food deserts. Virginians are forced  to spend money on junk food or high priced convenience store "healthy foods" that are of poor quality. The state of Virginia has taken action to solve this problem.

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National Geographic posted a brief look into the life of a family facing food insecurity. Despite the family's farming connection, they do not make enough to make ends meet and guarantee food every day for their children. The family is forced to rely on assistance.

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A Family Faces Food Insecurity in America’s Heartland | National Geographic

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This website lists out the goals of the United Nations in regards to No Hunger by 2030. The facts and figures of the goal are listed, as well as the specific subgoals the UN wishes to achieve. It is important to note that one goal relates back to all of the goals listed.

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This article is specifically related to hunger and poverty in North Carolina. North Carolina is the 17th most hungry state in the United States, despite being an agricultural state. Many areas in North Carolina are food insecure and located in food deserts.

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Despite an economy rooted in agriculture, North Carolina is one of the hungriest states in the country. In 2016, there were over 1.5 million food insecure people in North Carolina.

In June, Kroger announced that it would close all 14 of its grocery store locations in the Triangle. Two of those locations - both in Durham (5116 N. Roxboro Road and 3825 S Roxboro Street) - are located in food deserts. As defined by the USDA, food deserts are "urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food." On August 11, two census tracts in Durham will lose their only grocery store.

Simultaneously, 45 farmers markets, farm stands and mobile markets across North Carolina may be forced to stop accepting the Electronic Cash Benefit (EBT) cards that many depend on to afford fresh, healthy foods. The technology company that currently processes Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at 40 percent of the country's farmers markets, Novo Dio Group, planned to stop doing so at the end of July, but the National Association of Farmers Market Nutrition Programs has provided operational funding for an additional 30 days to keep the technology running through the end of August.

From the Triangle to the Unifour, food deserts are found across North Carolina in urban and rural settings alike. According to a 2014 report by the General Assembly, North Carolina had at least 349 food deserts across 80 counties, with more than 1.5 million residents living in those zones. From 2009 to 2014, 43 counties across the state had a 5 percent or more decrease in grocery stores. At the same time, 53 counties had a 5 percent or more increase in fast food restaurants.

The impacts of food deserts on those who live in them include a higher risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other diet-related conditions. Additionally, those in food deserts are more likely to be food insecure, or experience "disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake."

The topic of food deserts is nothing new to North Carolina; in 2014, a General Assembly legislative research commission was formed to study food desert zones. However, a lack of access to affordable, healthy foods continues to burden communities across the state. The closure of grocery stores along with the possibility of reduced access to farmers markets for SNAP recipients threaten to exacerbate this issue.

A look at new numbers

In a new report from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) titled "How Hungry is America?", North Carolina had the 17th highest percentage of households experiencing food hardship - or the inability to afford enough food for themselves and their families. Almost one in every six households in North Carolina (16.4 percent) experienced food hardship in 2016-2017. When just considering households with children, this percentage jumps to 18.6 percent.

Nationally, the average food hardship rate has been declining over the past few years as the economy continuous to recover from the recession. The highest national rate of food hardship in the last decade occurred in 2013 at a peak of 18.9 percent, but declined to 15.1 percent by 2016. However, between 2016 and 2017, the food hardship rate rose from 15.1 percent to 15.7 percent.

This interactive map, courtesy of FRAC, allows you to see trends in food hardship rates over time and for different subgroups of the population.

On a local level, three North Carolina metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) have a higher food hardship rate than the state average of 16.4 percent. Winston-Salem has the highest food hardship rate for all MSAs in North Carolina and ranked 7th nationally with a rate of 20.2 percent, or about one in every five households. Greensboro-High Point ranked 14th nationally with a rate of 19.2 percent, and Asheville ranked 22nd nationally with a rate of 17.7 percent.

The bottom line: a lack of sufficient financial resources to consistently buy food continues to pose a threat to the food security of hundreds of thousands of households across North Carolina, and even more frequently threatens the food security of households with children.

North Carolina voices

In a recent Reach NC Voices conversation, we asked our members how long it takes them to get from where they live to where they most commonly shop for food. Of the 464 responses collected since July 26, over two-thirds of respondents said it takes them under 10 minutes.

When asked to share other thoughts about food access in their community, Reach NC Voices respondents said the following.

"For us, it's not distance, it's walkability. There are no sidewalks or crosswalks in most of my town, so despite living around the corner from a Walmart it takes a long time to get there if you're unable to drive due to age, disability, or economic status."
-A user from Johnston County

"I was disturbed to see that the company providing EBT to farmers' markets was being shut. I think there should be marketing and transportation to encourage and make it easier and attractive for low-income people to access local, healthy produce."
-A user from Durham County

"We have a facility for the elderly nearby that transported them to the Kroger on Maynard Rd. Now that it is closed, they have nowhere to shop that will be reasonably priced. [Harris Teeter] is sometimes 3X as expensive."
-A user from Wake County

"I am concerned for our areas in poverty. Many people in our more impoverished areas have to walk miles to the grocery stores. Some areas can get public transportation. But think about it. You have to wait for two or three buses just one way. Then you have to lug those groceries around for hours. It's too difficult."
-A user from Gaston County

To weigh in on future Reach NC Voices conversations about policy topics in North Carolina, leave your information below.

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How hungry is North Carolina? - NC Center for Public Policy Research

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Despite an economy rooted in agriculture, North Carolina is one of the hungriest states in the country. In 2016, there were over 1.5 million food insecure people in North Carolina. In June, Kroger announced that it would close all 14 of its grocery store locations in the Triangle.

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The Hunger Project puts world hunger in to numbers. Not only does poverty lead to hunger, there are even more concerns. Women and children face the hardest road of poverty and hunger, farmers are going hungry, malnutrition leads to disease which families cannot get medications for. The cycle is endless.

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7.7 billion

World Hunger Facts
Chronic hunger and malnourishment is worst in Asia, Africa and Latin America - the very regions we work in at The Hunger Project.
Women and Children
Women as change agents are essential to achieving the end of hunger and poverty. Which is why, everywhere we work, our programs build the capacity of women.
Poverty
Rural communities participating in our programs have access to income-generating workshops. For example, our Microfinance Program in Africa provides access to credit, adequate training and instilling in our partners the importance of saving.

7 36 million people, almost 1 in 10 people in the world, live under $1.90 a day, and over half of the extreme poor (413 million) live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nearly 328 million children are living in extreme poverty.

HIV/AIDS and other Diseases
Our HIV/AIDS and Gender Inequality Campaign, launched in 2003, works at the grassroots level to provide education about preventative and treatment measures.

37.9 million people are living with HIV/AIDS.

74.9 million [58.3 million-98.1 million] people have become infected with HIV since the start of the epidemic.

The vast majority of people living with HIV are located in low- and middle- income countries, with an estimated 25.6 million [23.2 million-28.2 million] living in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Since 2010, new HIV infections among children have declined by 41%, from 280,000 [190,000-430,000] in 2010 to 160,000 [110,000-260,000] in 2018.

Agriculture
In each region in which we work, we ensure access to tools and training that increase farming production at the local level.
Water and sanitation
The Hunger Project works with communities to develop new water resources, ensure clean water and improved sanitation, and implement water conservation techniques.

Globally, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with feces, and 785 million people lack even a basic drinking-water service.

By 2025, half of the world's population will be living in water-stressed areas.

As of 2017, 55% of the global population lacked safely managed sanitation services.

Each year, some 297,000 children under age 5 die due to diarrhea. Poor sanitation and contaminated water are also linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, and typhoid.

In countries experiencing conflict or unrest, children are 4 times less likely to use basic water services, and 2 times less likely to use basic sanitation services than children in other countries.

There are big gaps in service between urban and rural areas. Two out of three people with safely managed drinking water and three out of five people with safely managed sanitation services live in urban areas. Of the 161 million people using untreated surface water (from lakes, rivers or irrigation channels), 150 million live in rural areas.

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7.7 billion Chronic hunger and malnourishment is worst in Asia, Africa and Latin America - the very regions we work in at The Hunger Project. Women as change agents are essential to achieving the end of hunger and poverty. Which is why, everywhere we work, our programs build the capacity of women.

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The 2018 Feeding America annual report details specific outcomes of their work and innovations. Real life stories, financials and impacts are all including in the report.

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Esther Ndichu explains how hunger is caused by a logistical problem. Farmers are unable to get their foods to the areas that need it most because they can not afford the transportation or storage needed. Now UPS is helping these countries and farmers with their shipping issues.

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Esther Ndichu: Hunger isn't a food issue. It's a logistics issue

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Most people presume that world hunger is caused by a lack of food. But Esther Ndichu, Humanitarian Supply Chain Director at UPS, argues that the real issue is logistics. She points out that farmers often struggle to get goods to market and that food often rots just miles from the neediest people.

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Head of UN's World Food Program shares experiences and ideas

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Head of UN's World Food Program shares experiences and ideas

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Josette Sheeran shares her experiences in countries where hunger is most prominent. She informs the audience about the dire situation that children are in because they cannot get enough nutrition. During the video, she shares the real world cost of saving children from hunger.

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Josette Sheeran, the head of the UN's World Food Program, talks about why, in a world with enough food for everyone, people still go hungry, still die of starvation, still use food as a weapon of war. Her vision: "Food is one issue that cannot be solved person by person.