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1 in 6 children are living in a
food insecure household

Since our founding in 1979, Feed the Children remains one of the leading charities in the U.S. dedicated to ending childhood hunger both at home and abroad. Though we focus most urgently on feeding hungry children, the scope of our work has expanded to helping their families and communities achieve more stable lives to reduce the need for hunger relief tomorrow.

We have continued to explore ways to expand access to food for the children and families in the United States who need it the most. Our five distribution centers across the country serve as hubs for dispersing relief and resources to communities across the country as we deliver supplies to our community partners in cities, towns and rural areas. In fiscal year 2021, our programs provided more than 91.5 million pounds of shelf-stable food and essential household items valued at more than $445.7 million to supplement family needs and offer hope to more than 8 million people across the nation.

As the combined health and economic crises of COVID-19 continue to cause hardship on a massive scale, Feed the Children continues to provide support to the families who need the most help.

Sadly, the breakfasts and lunches served at school to approximately 30 million children across the U.S. can often be the only reliable sources of food many kids receive. When the school year ends, so do these meals, and summer can become a time of struggle and hunger.

Food insecurity has grown more widespread in the U.S. since 2020 due to the far-reaching effects of the ongoing pandemic. It is estimated that nearly one in six American children is now food insecure.

Feed the Children's network of local community partners operates nationwide to bridge the summer hunger gap. We work with food pantries, churches, schools and homeless shelters to distribute food and essentials. And through the power of partnership, our outreach programs can help more families than ever.

Education and community
matter in the hunger crisis

According to the Economic Policy Institute, in 2019/2020, teachers spent an average of $745 out of pocket to supply their classrooms. Of those teachers, 9 out of 10 were not reimbursed. That's why Feed the Children operates five Teacher Stores around the country, providing free books, school supplies, and other classroom necessities to teachers in Title I schools. They are located in:

Elkhart, Indiana

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Lavergne, Tennessee

Chandler, Arizona

In fiscal year 2021, our Teacher Stores benefited an estimated 803,500 students across 482 school districts by helping 29,538 teachers and providing them with more than $2.8 million in teaching supplies as well as books valued at more than $4 million.

The Feed the Children Teacher Stores also offer food pantries in all five locations. The food pantries provide healthy snack options for teachers to hand out to their students in class. Snacks provided include assorted nuts, dried fruit, and health bars. Teachers can use the food as an afternoon snack for students in class, an after-school snack for when kids go home, and as a nutritious classroom boost before giving a test.

Food is important. But it's not the only thing families need. And in the struggle to afford life's necessities, there isn't always enough money to go around. That's why Feed the Children provides not only food, but essential items such as shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and cleaning supplies. These supplies make it possible for the families we serve to not only survive, but thrive.

When disaster strikes, quick response times are crucial to relief efforts. At Feed the Children, we know how important it is to anticipate and immediately address damage caused by hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes -anything that leaves children and their families vulnerable.

We work with community partners in hard-hit areas to distribute food, water, cleaning supplies, and essentials to families in need. In addition, we provide Kid's Disaster Packs to ensure that children have the resources they need to cope during the relief and recovery process.

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1 in 6 children are living in a food insecure household Since our founding in 1979, Feed the Children remains one of the leading charities in the U.S. dedicated to ending childhood hunger both at home and abroad.

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This video shows the waste that happens on farms.

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Why does almost half of America’s food go to waste?

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Newsela | Kiribati: The face of climate change

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Kiribati feels effects of climate change

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Newsela | The plight of refugees, asylum-seekers and IDPs around the globe

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Refugees are people who must leave their home area for their own safety or survival. A refugee's home area could be a country, state or region. People become refugees for many reasons, including war, oppression, natural disasters and climate change.

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This book on epic is good if you are focusing on over-fishing predators and fish.

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Get unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audiobooks, videos, & more for kids 12 and under. Try it free.

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This is a good topic if you are focusing on over-fishing.

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Productive fishing practices as we look ahead

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this video shows how food waste works don't worry i don't copy the first one i made that one

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Food Waste "Do Better" Rap | ft. MC David Urry

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this is a story about Plastic pollution i hope you enjoy

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LELE - WHATEVER ★ Original Song (We can change the World | PLASTIC IN THE OCEAN)

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Newsela | Why leftovers are a food waste problem

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Researchers found that leftovers are likely to end up in the trash, so they advise cooking smaller meals in the first place to avoid food waste. Christopher Intagliata reports.

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Get unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audiobooks, videos, & more for kids 12 and under. Try it free.

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Tigers are almost endangered with only having 3,200 left due to people hunting and killing them. Please get into saving tigers and more endangered animals like black rhinos,mountain gorilla , and polar bears and more.

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Saving Malaysia's Endangered Animals From Extinction | CNA Correspondent

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There are only 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears left in the wild! This is for people that are doing polar bears :)

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Newsela | Endangered Species: The polar bear

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Polar bears live in the Arctic and are in danger of losing their homes as global warming melts more ice.

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This is the kind of thing that economic growth is causing. https://www.getepic.com/app/read/10625 

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This book is on epic and it can help you learn how to help the endanger animals grow so give this a try. These animals need help so if you go on epic search endangered animals.

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Hey guys, I thought that you guys might want to look at this article for this topic.

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Newsela | “Pink tax” means women still pay more for goods and services

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Women pay more for everything — and earn less — than men.

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this girl wants the curry 5's basketball shoes to become a women's shoe, not just men's. this isn't just for basketball but for quite a bit of other sports. maybe we should try to do something about this....

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Newsela | Sleeping under a roof, but homeless nonetheless

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Ten-year-old Kaylie Hegwood and her brother Tyler, 12, are hungry - very hungry. Not because they just finished a game of soccer or forgot to eat breakfast.

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Newsela | The Amazon is reaching a tipping point due to deforestation

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The Amazon rain forest is endangered because of deforestation.

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Newsela | A small town is taking on the state's landfill

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Poorer communities throughout the country tend to bear the brunt of landfills.

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Newsela | What is environmental justice?

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Environmental justice is an important part of the struggle to improve and maintain a clean and healthy environment

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When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.

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Turtles are almost extinct because of marines under water would slaughter them for meat and shells and would kill the eggs. Can we help with this can we find a way to protect the turtle so theirs more? Can we find a sollution. this will help with people learning about turtles

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The Food Access Research Atlas (formerly the Food Desert Locator) is a mapping tool that provides a spatial overview of food access indicators by census tract, allowing users to investigate multiple indicators of food store access.

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Newsela | Poverty and access to health services

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Newsela | Poorhouses were designed to punish people for their poverty

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In the 19th and early 20th centuries, poorhouses were locally run institutions that filled a need before social services were a reality for society's most vulnerable people.

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Newsela | Child homelessness at record high, report says, "call to action" for states

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A new report says there are more homeless children in America than ever. But many homeless kids are "invisible" because they are not living on the street. This makes it harder to help them.

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Newsela | Brain growth stunted in poor children, schoolwork suffers, scientists find

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Delayed brain development predicts lower tests scores in low-income children

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Newsela | Pirates' illegal methods net them big money, threaten Arctic fish survival

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Newsela | Climate change has begun to reshape the lives of Alaska's indigenous people

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Warming seas have begun to take a toll on indigenous Alaska communities.

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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was already off-track to achieve its education targets. If no additional measures are taken, only one in six countries will meet SDG4 and achieve universal access to quality education by 2030. An estimated 84 million children and young people will still be out of school and an estimated 300 million student will still not have the basic numeracy and literacy skills they need to succeed in life. To deliver SDG4, education systems must be re-imagined, and education financing must become a priority national investment.

Target 4.1: Between 2015 and 2021, the school completion rate increased from 85% to 87% in primary, from 74% to 77% in lower secondary and from 54% in 2015 to 58% in upper secondary education. Even before the onset of COVID19, these rates had slowed down relative to progress in 2010-15. Looking closely at reading levels at the end of primary school, for which trend data cover 34% of the world's children, the analysis shows that global learning levels showed no progress between 2015-2019. Furthermore, learning losses due to COVID-related school closures have been documented in 4 out of 5 of the 104 countries that have carried out such studies.

Target 4.2: Participation rate in organized learning one year before the official primary entry age has stagnated at around 75% since 2015, still far from the target of ensuring that all girls and boys have access to quality pre-primary education by 2030.

Target 4.3: Among 131 countries with data from 2017 onwards, on average approximately one in six youth and adults aged 15-64 recently participated in formal or non-formal education and training. Participation is substantially higher among youth aged 15-24 (40%-50%), compared to those aged 25-55 (only 5% for most regions).

Target 4.a: Basic school infrastructure is far from universal. In 2020, approximately a quarter of primary schools globally do not have access to basic services such as electricity, drinking water and basic sanitation facilities. For other facilities such as computer facilities and the provision of disability adapted infrastructure, figures are substantially lower, with around 50% of primary schools with access.

Target 4.c: Globally, in 2020, over 14% of teachers are still not qualified according to national norms, with little improvement since 2015.

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Goal 4 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs

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Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

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Climate 101: Deforestation | National Geographic

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Renewable Energy 101 | National Geographic

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Rising Ocean Temperatures are "Cooking" Coral Reefs | National Geographic

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here are some people helping fight for an education. see what you can do.

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Newsela | U.S. pledges to help Pakistani girls' education

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Wolves are the new endangered animals. Crazy right well im going to tell yo why and how to save them. People killed and trapped the wolves and took the land. People know the wolves since they were a thing. People in china eat dogs to as a fact i didn't know i now know. We can help and stop of this by raising money fighting for animals to not go extinct and we can always care for the endangered animals.

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people all over the world are trying to help

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people all over the world are trying to help

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facts to learn about who and how to help girls get an education

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Newsela - The Obamas want the U.S. to help educate more girls around the world

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In some countries, it is not easy for girls to get an education. A U.S. program is trying to make it easier. First Lady Michelle Obama will go to Asia later this month to help get things started.

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Storms are a thing and it all happens but how and why. Well in the main picture it has water so lets start with that. Water rising is known as a tsunami a tsunami is dangerous and normally the cities tell people its going on but now everyone knows.

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Feeding Nine Billion Video 1:  Introducing Solutions to the Global Food Crisis by Dr. Evan Fraser

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The disarming case to act right now on climate change | Greta Thunberg

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Newsela | Americans are throwing away too much uneaten seafood, a study warns

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here is a brave girl showing that no one can stop her from getting an education

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Newsela | Girl shot by Taliban now back to school, in England

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Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban in October, resumed her education in March, as a student at a new school in England.

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Greta Thunberg Is Leading a Global Climate Movement

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The elephant pleasant name right well not so much. What do mean well elephants are almost extinct due to people doing bad things. People go out and find them and kill them to make ivory and make illegal trades. This brings elephants down to about 40,000 to 50,000 left thats not alot.

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STOP POLLUTION!!!!!!!!

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POWERFUL VIDEO: Why We Need to Stop Plastic Pollution in Our Oceans FOR GOOD

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Why it’s hard for girls in rural India to stay in school

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Newsela | Endangered Species: The polar bear

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Polar bears live in the Arctic and are in danger of losing their homes as global warming melts more ice.

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A video about a lot of food waste. Its also very interesting even if this isn't your topic.

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Truckloads of healthy fruit going to waste | A Current Affair

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Science & information for a climate-smart nation

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https://newsela.com/read/lib-equal-education-usa/id/33214/

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Newsela | Education and Equality in the United States

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Over the years, liberals and conservatives have clashed over the most effective policies for the American educational system.

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Global hunger isn't about a lack of food. Right now, the world produces enough food to nourish every man, woman and child on the planet.
But nearly one-third of all food produced each year is squandered or spoiled before it can be consumed.
For many Americans, this food waste happens in the kitchen - when we prepare food that is left uneaten or spoils in our fridges and cabinets.

For millions of people in low-income countries, this  food waste happens at harvest time. Poor storage leads to pest infestations or mold that ruin crops before they can be eaten.

Along with chronic poverty, conflict and natural disasters,  food waste is one of the root causes of hunger worldwide.

Here's how food waste and global hunger are connected:

1) $1 Trillion Dollars' Worth of Food Is Wasted Each Year

Approximately $1 trillion dollars' worth of food is lost or wasted every year. This happens in the form of food loss - food that is damaged as it moves through the supply chain - and food waste - edible food that is thrown away by retailers or consumers.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), reversing this trend would preserve enough food to feed 2 billion people . That's more than twice the number of undernourished people across the globe.

Related articles you might be interested in:

2) Food Waste Is One of the Largest Producers of Carbon

Food waste and food loss have a significant impact on global warming. When wasted food goes to the landfill, it rots and emits greenhouse gases that damage our environment. Each year, 3 billion tons of greenhouse gases are emitted because of food waste.

To put this into perspective, if wasted food were a country it would be the third largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world after the U.S. and China. Taking small steps to reduce food waste, like eating leftovers and only buying the food that you need, helps fight global hunger and climate change.

3) 30-40% of Food in the US Is Wasted

According to the USDA's Economic Research Service, roughly 30 to 40 percent of the food in the United States is wasted. That amounts to more than 20 pounds of food per person wasted each month.

This happens:

at the production and supply chain level, where food is damaged or spoiled

at the retail level, where food can be thrown out due to physical blemishes or overbuying

at the consumer level, when people buy more than they need and then throw out unused food

4) Rich Countries Waste as Much Food as Sub-Saharan Africa Produces

According to the U.N. Environment Programme, industrialized countries in North America, Europe and Asia collectively waste 222 million tons of food each year. In contrast, countries in sub-Saharan Africa produce 230 million tons of food each year. That means sub-Saharan Africa's food output is practically equal to the amount of food wasted by the world's richest countries.

5) Our Food Systems are Exhausting Soil and Water

The amount of water used to produce food that ends up wasted could fill Lake Geneva three times. And of the world's arable land, 28 percent produces food that ends up in a trash bin rather than a hungry stomach.

6) Cutting Global Food Waste Is a Top U.N. Goal

In 2015, the U.N. created the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - a blueprint for peace and prosperity for the world. In it are 17 goals to reach by the year 2030.

Sustainable Development Goal #12 is to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns, and that includes cutting food waste in half by 2030.

7) The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Helps Reduce Food Loss

Post-harvest food losses often occur because of poor storage equipment.

The U.N. World Food Programme's Zero Post-Harvest Losses project sells  low-cost, locally produced grain silos to farmers and provides them with training on post-harvest crop management  in five key areas: harvesting, drying, threshing, solarization and storage. Through these air-tight storage containers, we help farmers cut their post-harvest food losses from 40 percent to under 2 percent.
Donate now to help people suffering from food loss >
8) WFP Finds New Ways to Distribute Food

Another cause of food loss in developing countries is damage and decay during transportation. Inadequate infrastructure can cause delays in delivery, especially in remote areas that are hard to access.

The U.N. World Food Programme is tackling these issues by boosting access to local markets. This includes sourcing its school meals with locally grown crops, so food is fresh and there's no need to import it from far away. We are also working with communities to build better roads and storage facilities and, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, providing  cargo bikes  to mostly female farmers to increase their access to markets. This creates more efficient food distribution, thereby decreasing the risk of food loss during transportation.

Today, 811 million people don't know where their next meal is coming from while tons of perfectly edible food rots in landfills and poor storage containers. Reducing food waste and losses is key to ending global hunger, fighting climate change and fostering healthy food systems - and every person can be part of the solution.
Learn more about food waste and how you can help.

Help Fight Food Waste and Food Loss

Donate to support programs that help safeguard farmers from food loss and make their communities more resilient.

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8 Facts About How Food Waste and Global Hunger Are Connected

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Global hunger isn't about a lack of food. Right now, the world produces enough food to nourish every man, woman and child on the planet. But nearly one-third of all food produced each year is squandered or spoiled before it can be consumed.

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Think about what food you've thrown away in the last 24 hours. In the last week. In the last month. Try not to cringe. We waste a lot of food, and it is something we all should pay attention to. As Rise Against Hunger is driven by the vision of a world without hunger, it's important for our organization to be aware of and talk about both food loss and waste. Food loss can occur during production, storage, processing and distribution within the food system. Food waste takes place when, for example, you buy too many containers of mushrooms because they're on sale, then open the fridge eight days later to a funky smell and realize you shoved those mushrooms in a corner and forgot all about them. Did you know that food loss and waste play a part in the availability, access and utilization required to achieve food security? It's true!

One-third of the global food production is wasted every year. That's four times what it would take to relieve undernutrition worldwide. This pervasive issue is even included in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, directly tying in to the work we do here at Rise Against Hunger as we also support the Sustainable Development Goals. UN Sustainable Development Goal #12 is Responsible Consumption and Production, and of its objectives is to halve per capita food waste globally. This would also have an impact in Rise Against Hunger's work to end hunger. If countries, including the United States, support and work toward the reduction of their food loss and waste, we could see huge improvements in global hunger! Our population is projected to reach 8.1 billion in 2025 with 95% of that growth in low and middle income countries. While we are producing enough food to feed everyone, the poor practices in the food system are cause for massive food waste and thus contribute to global food insecurity.

While 820 million people face hunger globally, $750 billion is lost as a result of wasted food every year. Countries of low and middle income status are overall at much higher risk for food loss from a lack of post-harvest preservation techniques, including in areas where we work. For example, in South Sudan, all of the mangoes are harvested in two months. Without a way to preserve them through the year, half of the harvest is lost. Poor infrastructure, sensitivity to climate shocks, inadequate transport systems, technology and storage and drought-induced pest infestations are also main drivers for the loss of food.

But guess what? You - and other Hunger Champions - can help address the issue of food waste. In the US, 21% of all food is lost at the consumer level. That means the food in our fridge made it through a journey of harvesting, processing, transport and selection only to rot in our kitchen. Don't be discouraged: while that number is significant, it also means we as consumers have power to make a difference! We can adopt better habits around food planning, shopping and preparation (illustrated in the image below from the Food and Agriculture Organization).

We can also request and advocate for changes in the food industry, such as more clearly defined expiration date labels and policies that require food retailers to donate their extra food. We can educate other consumers on food waste consequences and tips for reducing waste. And, last but certainly not least, we can also push for legislation and infrastructure changes locally, nationally and internationally that address the parts of the food system where the highest amount of food is currently being lost or wasted.

If we all do our part, we can make progress towards reducing global food waste and reducing global hunger at the same time!
Sources:

https://eatdrinkbetter.com/2016/02/10/food-recovery-act/

FAO and World Resources Institute

World Bank

Birney, C.I., Franklin, K.F., Davidson, F.T., Webber, M.E. An assessment of individual foodprints attributed to diets and food waste in the United States. Environmental Research Letters. Vol 12:10. October 17, 2017. Retrieved from http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa8494

Dangour, A.D., Mace, G., Shankar, B. Food systems, nutrition, health and the environment. The Lancet Planetary Health. Vol 1:1. April 2017.

Economist Intelligence Unit. Fixing Food 2016: Towards a more sustainable food system. 2016. Retrieved from http://foodsustainability.eiu.com/whitepaper/

Taillie, L.S., Jaacks, L.M., Toward a Just, Nutritious, and Sustainable Food System: The False Dichotomy of Localism versus Supercentrism. The Journal of Nutrition. Vol 145:7. July 2015. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/145/7/1380/4644404

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Addressing Food Waste Plays a Role in Ending Hunger - Rise Against Hunger

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Think about what food you've thrown away in the last 24 hours. In the last week. In the last month. Try not to cringe. We waste a lot of food, and it is something we all should pay attention to.

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Why are Americans throwing away 40% of the food we produce? Learn about the environmental cost and humanitarian costs of wasting food and what you can do to help.

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When we stop food waste, we take a big step toward ending hunger.

America has more than enough food for everyone to eat. But each year, billions of pounds of perfectly good food go to waste. Meanwhile, 34 million face hunger in the United States.

As the country's largest food rescue organization, Feeding America partners with food manufacturers, grocery stores, restaurants, and farmers to rescue food and deliver it to food banks serving our neighbors.

What is food waste?

Food waste is safe, high-quality food that is thrown away rather than eaten. Food waste occurs for a variety of reasons, including:

Uneaten food that is thrown out at homes, stores, and restaurants

Crops left in fields because of low crop prices or too many of the same crops being available

Problems during the manufacturing and transportation of food

Food not meeting retailers' standards for color and appearance

How much food waste is there in the United States?

Each year, 119 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion in food thrown away each year. Shockingly, nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted.

Food goes to waste at every stage of food production and distribution - from farmers to packers and shippers, from manufacturers to retailers to our homes. Food waste in our homes makes up about 39% of all food waste - about 42 billion pounds of food waste. While commercial food waste makes up about 61% of all food waste or 66 billion pounds of food waste. Feeding America focuses on reducing food waste on farms and in food service, manufacturing, and retail.

What is Feeding America doing about food waste?

Last year, the Feeding America network and our partners rescued 3.6 billion pounds of groceries. That food went directly to meals for people facing hunger. This makes Feeding America the largest food rescue organization in the country.

Food rescue, or food recovery, is collecting high-quality food that would otherwise go to waste and distributing it to people facing hunger. We work with manufacturers, retailers, and farmers to reduce food waste and provide rescued food to our neighbors. Those industries contribute 66 billion pounds of food waste every year.

We identify food at risk of going to waste, offer rescued food to food banks, safely ship food over long distances and keep food fresh longer once it reaches a food bank.

We're working on new ways to get perfectly good food to our neighbors who need it most, including:

MealConnect, makes safe and quick food donations possible by matching food banks to food donations for local businesses. Grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, caterers, and more can use the no-cost platform to donate surplus meals. MealConnect has recently rescued 3 billion pounds of food. Learn how MealConnect works and join today.

Waste It or Taste It?

Can you spot the food that may be destined for the dumpster?
Take the quiz.

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Find out how the Feeding America network of food banks and our partners prevent food waste in the US by rescuing almost 4 billion pounds of food each year.

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Newsela | Redlining prevents minority families from becoming homeowners

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If your family was denied a mortgage 50 years ago, then you may not have the family wealth to purchase a home today.

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we need to stop the pay gap in general.

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Newsela | Allowance gap: Parents pay boys twice as much as girls, study finds

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According to the analysis, boys averaged more allowance than girls because they were more often assigned chores considered more physically strenuous.

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This is a good video to watch if you are doing over fishing.

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Will the ocean ever run out of fish? - Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Jennifer Jacquet

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Newsela | For the poor, cigarettes a salve for hunger pangs and mental woes

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Nicotine is the one thing people in poverty have in abundance as they deal with stress and depression. But help to quit smoking is much harder to come by.

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Newsela | The Great Pacific Garbage Patch counts 1.8 trillion pieces of trash

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located between California and Hawaii, is carrying almost 80,000 metric tons of plastic - 16 times what scientists thought.

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We all know birds right? Well this bird in the picture cute right it can go extinct because of us. Not us kids but adults. Adults are known for hunting and more, well the birds are killed and eaten. People eat them because their kinda free food just hunt ,cook, serve. another example in china they eat dog weird well bird is a little weird too. We can save the birds by not hunting letting their babies grow up and when theirs a lot of birds then hunt more. You see we all dont live off of meat so eat fruits and vegetables too. Plus its healthy so try it no meat and no hunting.

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Food Waste: The Hidden Cost of the Food We Throw Out I ClimateScience #9

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Water Pollution for Kids | Learn How to Keep Our Water Clean                   LEARN HOW TO STOP POLLUTION!

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Water Pollution for Kids | Learn How to Keep Our Water Clean

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Food Waste: The Hidden Cost of the Food We Throw Out I ClimateScience #9

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Topher White: What can save the rainforest? Your used cell phone

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Rain Forest Hero Plants Over 30,000 Trees to Save the Amazon | Short Film Showcase

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This short from Dan Childs and Nick Werber beautifully captures the way one community is learning to live in balance with their environment. For decades the people in the Manu region of Peru have used slash-and-burn as their primary farming technique.

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Open-source maps are saving the rainforest—and the world

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No Kid Hungry is working to end child hunger in America today by ensuring that all children get the healthy food they need every day to thrive.

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Before you do anything thing about the risk your take of put plastic in water your kill fish turtles and more think about it before you do it

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DENR holds fresh talks with San Miguel over pollution rap

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Marine debris is litter that ends up in oceans, seas, and other large bodies of water.

The area in the center of a gyre tends to be very calm and stable. The circular motion of the gyre draws debris into this stable center, where it becomes trapped. A plastic water bottle discarded off the coast of California, for instance, takes the California Current south toward Mexico. There, it may catch the North Equatorial Current, which crosses the vast Pacific. Near the coast of Japan, the bottle may travel north on the powerful Kuroshiro Current. Finally, the bottle travels eastward on the North Pacific Current. The gently rolling vortexes of the Eastern and Western Garbage Patches gradually draw in the bottle.

The amount of debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch accumulates because much of it is not biodegradable. Many plastics, for instance, do not wear down; they simply break into tinier and tinier pieces.

For many people, the idea of a "garbage patch" conjures up images of an island of trash floating on the ocean. In reality, these patches are almost entirely made up of tiny bits of plastic, called microplastics. Microplastics can't always be seen by the naked eye. Even satellite imagery doesn't show a giant patch of garbage. The microplastics of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can simply make the water look like a cloudy soup. This soup is intermixed with larger items, such as fishing gear and shoes.

The seafloor beneath the Great Pacific Garbage Patch may also be an underwater trash heap. Oceanographers and ecologists recently discovered that about 70 percent of marine debris actually sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
Marine Debris
80 percent of plastic in the ocean is estimated to come from land-based sources, with the remaining 20 percent coming from boats and other marine sources. These percentages vary by region, however. A 2018 study found that synthetic fishing nets made up nearly half the mass of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, due largely to ocean current dynamics and increased fishing activity in the Pacific Ocean.

While many different types of trash enter the ocean, plastics make up the majority of marine debris for two reasons. First, plastic's durability, low cost, and malleability mean that it's being used in more and more consumer and industrial products. Second, plastic goods do not biodegrade but instead, break down into smaller pieces.

In the ocean, the sun breaks down these plastics into tinier and tinier pieces, a process known as photodegradation. Most of this debris comes from plastic bags, bottle caps, plastic water bottles, and Styrofoam cups.

Marine debris can be very harmful to marine life in the gyre. For instance, loggerhead sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jellies, their favorite food. Albatrosses mistake plastic resin pellets for fish eggs and feed them to chicks, which die of starvation or ruptured organs.

Seals and other marine mammals are especially at risk. They can get entangled in abandoned plastic fishing nets, which are being discarded largely due to inclement weather and illegal fishing. Seals and other mammals often drown in these forgotten nets-a phenomenon known as "ghost fishing."

Marine debris can also disturb marine food webs in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. As microplastics and other trash collect on or near the surface of the ocean, they block sunlight from reaching plankton and algae below. Algae and plankton are the most common autotrophs, or producers, in the marine food web. Autotrophs are organisms that can produce their own nutrients from carbon and sunlight.

If algae and plankton communities are threatened, the entire food web may change. Animals that feed on algae and plankton, such as fish and turtles, will have less food. If populations of those animals decrease, there will be less food for apex predators such as tuna, sharks, and whales. Eventually, seafood becomes less available and more expensive for people.

These dangers are compounded by the fact that plastics both leach out and absorb harmful pollutants. As plastics break down through photodegradation, they leach out colorants and chemicals, such as bisphenol A (BPA), that have been linked to environmental and health problems. Conversely, plastics can also absorb pollutants, such as PCBs, from the seawater. These chemicals can then enter the food chain when consumed by marine life.
Patching Up the Patch
Cleaning up marine debris is not as easy as it sounds. Many microplastics are the same size as small sea animals, so nets designed to scoop up trash would catch these creatures as well. Even if we could design nets that would just catch garbage, the size of the oceans makes this job far too time-consuming to consider. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris Program has estimated that it would take 67 ships one year to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean.

Many expeditions have traveled through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Charles Moore, who discovered the patch in 1997, continues to raise awareness through his own environmental organization, the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. During a 2014 expedition, Moore and his team used aerial drones, to assess from above the extent of the trash below. The drones determined that there is 100 times more plastic by weight than previously measured. The team also discovered more permanent plastic features, or islands, some over 15 meters (50 feet) in length.

All the floating plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch inspired National Geographic Emerging Explorer David de Rothschild and his team at Adventure Ecology to create a large catamaran made of plastic bottles: the . The sturdiness of the Plastiki displayed the strength and durability of plastics, the creative ways that they can be repurposed, and the threat they pose to the environment when they don't decompose. In 2010, the crew successfully navigated the Plastiki from San Francisco, California, to Sydney, Australia.

Scientists and explorers agree that limiting or eliminating our use of disposable plastics and increasing our use of biodegradable resources will be the best way to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Organizations such as the Plastic Pollution Coalition and the Plastic Oceans Foundation are using social media and direct action campaigns to support individuals, manufacturers, and businesses in their transition from toxic, disposable plastics to biodegradable or reusable materials.

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Marine debris is litter that ends up in the ocean, seas, and other large bodies of water.

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Child Hunger in America | Feeding America

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1 in 8 children in America worry about their next meal. Hunger deprives kids of more than food, it also impacts their mental and physical health.

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https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp

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When the government made school meals temporarily free to virtually all public school students in 2020, the intent was to buffer children and families from the spike in hunger and economic hardship caused by the pandemic. It also inadvertently turned out to be a pilot project for something anti-hunger groups had been pushing for years: making school food free, permanently, for all public school students, regardless of income.

Once free meals were in place, albeit temporarily, many advocates thought that they would at least remain that way for the rest of the pandemic-if not longer. That didn't turn out to be the case; this spring, Republicans blocked an extension of the waivers that allowed schools to serve free meals to all, which made the prospect of legislation establishing universal school meals remote.

This fall, schools are once again charging for lunch and breakfast, and people who run school food programs are back to the familiar scramble to get students signed up for free and reduced-price meals - and to the familiar worry that some kids will feel stigmatized for getting free meals, end up in lunch debt or go hungry.

Those arguing for universal free meals say that it would put an end to that stigma and to administrative hurdles that can prevent parents from signing their kids up.

While advocates say Republican opposition to expanding school feeding programs is daunting, they haven't given up on the idea of making school meals free for all. Instead, they're trying to keep the momentum going by backing state-level efforts that could eventually lay the groundwork for federal action.

States move to free school meals for all kids

This year, California, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Nevada will offer free meals to all public school students, regardless of their family's income. Connecticut has also funded free meals for part of this year, and Colorado voters will decide in November whether to make school meals free to all. Universal meals legislation has been introduced in a number of other states, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Maryland and North Carolina.

A state-by-state approach isn't ideal, says Clarissa Hayes, deputy director of school and out-of-school time programs at the Food Research & Action Center, but it's still an important step - one that never would have happened if the pandemic hadn't hit.

"It really moved the needle," she says. "We are excited to see what's happening in the states, and in most cases, it is a bipartisan effort and there are a lot of partners at the table."

But whether action at the state level will translate into more support for federal universal school meals legislation is unclear, says Katie Wilson, the executive director of the Urban School Food Alliance. "You can roll the dice," she says.

While state initiatives could help popularize the idea of universal meals, they could also give federal lawmakers cover to argue that the question of whether to make meals universally free is best left to state legislatures, she says. That would sell kids short, Wilson says, noting that children's access to healthy food should not depend on their zip codes.

No matter how much support universal school meals have at the state level, Republican opposition in Congress is formidable, she says.

"Right now, there is just not the desire to do universal school meals at a national level from one side of the aisle," she says. "So how do you change that? We don't know. We've been trying for decades."

Federal lawmakers will likely hear from constituents upset that kids' access to school meals has been curtailed at a time when so many families continue to struggle with food insecurity, and high food and fuel prices, says Diane Pratt-Heavner, director of media relations at the School Nutrition Association.

But she says that passing universal meals legislation, of the sort that Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Ilhan Omar and other Democrats have introduced in recent years, is going to be "an uphill climb."

Another workaround to help hungry kids

Pratt-Heavner and other advocates point to an upcoming opportunity to increase kids' access to free school meals in a less sweeping, but still significant way - the child nutrition reauthorization process. Every five years, Congress is required to reauthorize school feeding programs, and it's a critical chance to strengthen them, advocates say.

Congress is overdue to reauthorize the program, but there was finally some movement in July when House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat, introduced a childhood nutrition reauthorization bill that was praised by anti-hunger advocates.

The bill, if enacted as written, would alter the rules governing the Community Eligibility Provision. In its current form, the provision allows schools where at least 40% of students are "directly certified" - that is, enrolled in federal safety net programs like SNAP or TANF or are in the foster care system - to offer free meals to all students at the school, regardless of need.

In the 2021-22 school year, 33,300 schools serving 16.2 million children used the provision, according to a USDA spokesperson - that's nearly a third of the nation's 49.5 million public school students.

But advocates say that the program isn't reaching as far as it could. That's because under the current rules, schools that have between 40% and 62.5% of their students directly certified still have to pay for a portion of the meals they serve, which not all schools or districts can afford or want to do. It's only when 62.5% or more of the student body is directly certified that the federal government pays the entire amount.

The Scott bill would change reimbursement rates so that schools would only have to have 40% directly certified students to be fully reimbursed for all meals served. And it would allow schools or districts in which 25% of students are directly certified to participate in the program if they were willing to cover a portion of the cost.

Pratt-Heavner says the bill's provisions would help many more schools in high poverty communities offer meals to all students. But she says that it still wouldn't help the economically-stressed families who live in wealthier communities.

"At the end of the day, these meals are important to all students," she says. "And that's why it's important to just offer meals to all students, without an application, just like we offer them textbooks and bus service."
This story was produced by Ag Insider, a publication of the Food & Environment Reporting Network . FERN is an independent, nonprofit news organization, where Bridget Huber is a staff writer.

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Hunger advocates want free school meals for all kids. It's tough sell in Congress

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When the government made school meals temporarily free to virtually all public school students in 2020, the intent was to buffer children and families from the spike in hunger and economic hardship caused by the pandemic.

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For Release

Thursday
May 5, 2022

Regulations that strengthened the nutritional requirements for school lunches were associated with a decline in signs of obesity among free or reduced-price lunch participating school children in kindergarten through 5th grade, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Examining low-income children over two periods of time, researchers found that students who participated in the free or reduced-price federal National School Lunch Program after nutrition standards were strengthened showed less weight gain than children who participated in the earlier version of the program.

The findings are published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

"Our findings suggest that improving nutritional standards for school lunches can help reduce the trajectory toward obesity among the low-income children who participate in federal school lunch programs," said Andrea S. Richardson, the study's lead author and a policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

Obesity remains high among American children, with severe obesity growing particularly fast among low-income groups.

While school meals are a critical source of nutrients for low-income children, a growing body of evidence suggests that prior to 2010 they may have contributed to childhood obesity.

In response, Congress adopted the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010, which elevated nutritional standards for federal school lunch programs. The healthier menus, which included increased fruit, vegetable, and whole grain amounts, were adopted in 2012.

Researchers examined the influence of the healthier school lunch regulations by examining two groups of low-income children both before and after the adoption of the healthier school lunch standards. The two groups totaled about 5,960 children.

The study found that children who participated in the school lunch program before the nutritional reforms showed more signs of weight gain by the time they reached 5th grade, as compared to children who did not participate in the school lunch program.

Once the healthier nutrition standards were put into place, children who participated in the school lunch program did not show any differences in weight gain when compared to children who did not participate in the school lunch program.

The findings suggest the nutritional improvements prompted by the Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act may have eased the link seen previously between participation in subsidized school lunches and obesity among school children.

While the findings support the benefits of higher standards for school lunches, researchers said that many of the low-income students in the study still appeared to be headed toward obesity.

"Increasing access to school meals with more-rigorous nutritional requirements that are culturally pleasing to children may be needed to achieve greater success in reducing child obesity," Richardson said.

Support for the study was provided by the National Cancer Institute. Other authors of the study are Margaret M. Weden and Irineo Cabreros, both of RAND; and Ashlesha Datar of the University of Southern California.

The RAND Social and Economic Well-Being division seeks to actively improve the health, and social and economic well-being of populations and communities throughout the world.

RAND Education and Labor helps decisionmakers and practitioners find solutions to education and labor market challenges.

About the RAND Corporation

The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.

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Strengthening School Lunch Nutritional Standards May Help Improve Obesity Outlook for Low-Income Children

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For Release ThursdayMay 5, 2022 Regulations that strengthened the nutritional requirements for school lunches were associated with a decline in signs of obesity among free or reduced-price lunch participating school children in kindergarten through 5th grade, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

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School lunch is critical to student health and well-being, especially for low-income students-and ensures that students have nutrition they need throughout the day to learn. Research shows that receiving free or reduced-price school lunches reduces food insecurity, obesity rates, and poor health. In addition, the new school meal nutrition standards are having a positive impact on student food selection and consumption, especially for fruits and vegetables.

Quick Facts

Reimbursable meals must meet federal nutrition standards. National School Lunch Program lunches provide one-third or more of the recommended levels for key nutrients.

Reimbursable meals must provide no more than 30 percent of calories from fat and less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fat.

New nutrition standards phased in since the 2012-2013 school year required schools to increase whole grains, fruits, and vegetables served through the National School Lunch Program.

School Lunch Participation:

According to one estimate using national data, receiving free or reduced-price school lunches reduces food insecurity by at least 3.8 percent.

Among a sample of low-income children entering kindergarten, receiving a free or reduced-price school lunch reduces the probability of household food insecurity at school entry, whereas paying full price for school lunch is associated with a higher probability of household food insecurity.

Rates of food insecurity among children are higher in the summer - a time when many do not have access to the good nutrition provided by the school meal programs available during the academic year.

Children participating in school meals are less likely to have nutrient inadequacies and are more likely to consume fruit, vegetables, and milk at breakfast and lunch.

Low-income students who eat both school breakfast and lunch have significantly better overall diet quality than low-income students who do not eat school meals.

The new school meal nutrition standards are having a positive impact on student food selection and consumption, especially for fruits and vegetables.

Packed lunches brought from home by pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students have more calories, fat, saturated fat, and sugar than school lunches, and less protein, fiber, vitamin A, and calcium, according to a study conducted after implementation of the new school meal nutrition standards.

Few packed lunches and snacks brought from home meet National School Lunch Program standards.

Positively Impacts Health and Obesity Rates

Participation in federally-funded child care nutrition or school meals provided in child care, preschool, school, or summer settings is associated with a significantly lower body mass index (BMI) among young, low-income children. These findings lead researchers to conclude that "subsidized meals at school or day care are beneficial for children's weight status, and we argue that expanding access to subsidized meals may be the most effective tool to use in combating obesity in poor children."

Based on national data, economists estimate that the receipt of a free or reduced-price school lunch reduces obesity rates by at least 17 percent.

Receiving free or reduced-price school lunches reduces poor health by at least 29 percent based on estimates using national data.

Meeting Children's Nutritional Needs Leads to a Better Learning Environment

Behavioral, emotional, and mental health, and academic problems are more prevalent among children and adolescents struggling with hunger.

Children and adolescents experiencing hunger have lower math scores and poorer grades.

Children experiencing hunger are more likely to be hyperactive, absent, and tardy, in addition to having behavioral and attention problems more often than other children.

Teens experiencing hunger are more likely to have been suspended from school and have difficulty getting along with other children.

Children with hunger are more likely to have repeated a grade, received special education services, or received mental health counseling, than low-income children who do not experience hunger.

National School Lunch Week: October 9 - 13, 2023

National School Lunch Week  (NS L W) is a celebration from  October 9- 13 , 2023  of the federal  National School Lunch Program , which provides millions of children a nutritious meal each school day.

Join FRAC every day during National School Lunch Week for activities and opportunities to engage!
Learn More

Research Brief Shows That School Breakfast and Lunch Programs Continue to Have Multiple Positive Effects on Students' Health, Learning, and Well-Being

School Meals are Essential for Student Health and Learning reviews the many benefits of the school meals programs, and summarizes the latest research on recent policy changes and innovative strategies that are increasing program access and improving student outcomes.
Read the brief

Veterans Day provides a prime opportunity to not only reflect on the unconscionable rates of food insecurity among veterans, but also to highlight efforts to ensure no veteran goes hungry.
This Veterans Day, take a moment to recognize the great work that is being done to address hunger among veterans and to double down on needed efforts to ensure no veteran goes hungry.

Maryland Hunger Solutions is excited to announce the publication of the 2023 Maryland Hunger Profiles, a comprehensive resource, featuring the latest participation data for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), K-12 child nutrition programs, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The report, updated by Maryland Hunger Solutions annually, provides information at the state and county level. Each hunger profile also contains key demographic data points, including population, median household income, and percentage of the population living below the Federal Poverty Level.

Last week, the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) released its annual report Afterschool Suppers: A Snapshot of Participation - October 2021 and October 2022, which looks at participation in afterschool suppers and snacks on the state and national levels. The report finds that just over 1.15 million children received afterschool suppers through the Afterschool Nutrition Programs on an average school day in October 2022, reaching 339,360 fewer children compared to October 2021.

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Benefits of School Lunch - Food Research & Action Center

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School lunch is critical to student health and well-being, especially for low-income students-and ensures that students have nutrition they need throughout the day to learn. Research shows that receiving free or reduced-price school lunches reduces food insecurity, obesity rates, and poor health.

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At HSC, we take a systems approach to transforming school food and recognize the powerful role that policy plays in determining what students find on their cafeteria trays.

We place a high priority on school food policy because we recognize its power to:

Fuel learning: Healthy meals support schools' core mission of education, especially when it comes to boosting students' concentration, focus and cognitive function. A vast body of research shows that improved nutrition in schools leads to increased focus and attention, improved test scores and better classroom behavior.

Support healthy habits and consistent messages: Nutritious school food helps students develop lifelong healthy eating habits. It also contributes to a culture of wellness at school, reinforcing nutrition education messages from teachers. Healthy school food can also increase school connectedness and reinforce to children, families and community that students' health and well-being are valued.

Drive change in the marketplace and food system: We see school food as a lever for food systems change. School food is a $16.3 billion federally funded program. This use of public dollars creates an important opportunity and responsibility for a policy discussion about nutrition standards, procurement and food systems. Strong nutrition standards in the school meal program can drive changes in the consumer markets. School food also influences the taste buds and values of the next generations of consumers.

What We're Doing
Speaking Up for Healthy School Food
HSC's work to transform school food focuses on policy change at the national, state and local levels. Because the program is shaped significantly at each level of policy, we need alignment on all three levels to achieve the goal of fresh, healthy meals for every student.

At each level, our approach is to empower, advocate and build. For example, our school food policy efforts focus on:

Empowering school stakeholders, including students, parents and school food service leaders.

Advocating for policies that promote healthy school foods.

Building the capacity of local, state and federal institutions to support and implement health-promoting policies.

National
At the national level, efforts to roll back progress on school food policy have centered on the myth that students universally reject healthy school food. At HSC, we believe the most powerful and relevant response to this is from the students themselves. As a result, much of our national food policy work focuses on making sure that often-unheard student voices are part of this debate. We do this work through Cooking up Change, a competition for high school culinary students challenging them to create a healthy school meal that their peers will enjoy. Their culinary creations are proof positive that healthy school meals can taste great and appeal to students.
State
At the state level, HSC advocates for policy in Illinois to support healthy school food. HSC focuses on support for robust implementation of the standards determined in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and particularly on building schools' long-term capacity to support healthful school food programs.

As at the national level, we also work to elevate student voices in the state policy dialogue about healthy school food through Cooking up Change. For example, the winning student chefs from Cooking up Change Chicago each year present their meal to the Illinois State Board of Education and share their perspective on the value of healthy school food.
Local
As HSC works for change on a national level, we are grounded in a special focus on Chicago Public Schools, where more than 85 percent of the district's 400,000 students come from low-income families. We focus on empowering school stakeholders, advocating for district-level policies for healthy school food, and building the district's capacity to procure and serve fresh, healthy food in a pleasant environment.

In particular, we are motivated by a vision for school food centered on ten interconnected pathways which are critical to the success of school food programs. We developed these pathways through our work with parent and stakeholder school food advisory groups we co-convened with Chicago Public Schools. Read more about the pathways and our work for school food in Chicago.

In addition to our work in Chicago, we provide tools and resources to support parents and other advocates in making change in their own communities. See our Resource Center for more.

What You Can Do
Raise Your Voice: National
Your voice is especially vital as we approach a moment of risk and opportunity for national school food policy. As the administration proposes new rules that roll back progress and Congress gears up to reauthorize the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, your voice is more important than ever.

You can raise your voice in support of healthy school food policy by urging your elected leaders to maintain the recent progress supporting healthy food and healthy students.
Raise Your Voice: State
Because state-level school food policy varies greatly from state to state, the crucial first step for advocates seeking change at the state level is to understand your state's particular policy environment.

An excellent starting point is the National Association of State Boards of Education State School Health Policy Database, which includes state-level detail about policies focused on school meals, competitive foods, wellness policies and more.

For highlights of successful strategies used by state agency leaders to promote healthy school food, see Promising Practices of State Child Nutrition Programs.

We encourage you to speak with leaders at your school to understand their school food challenges and opportunities, talk with parents about what they see, and learn about any advocacy organizations who may be working on this issue in your state. Based on this information, you can identify the most practical approach to creating change. See HSC's Resource Center for more.
Raise Your Voice: Local
Many key policy decisions about school food are made at the local district and school levels. Your voice matters in your community! We encourage you to get involved in your school's wellness committee, learn about your district's Local School Wellness Policy, and talk with students about their experience with school lunch. For more, see our step-by-step guide to creating change through a school wellness committee.

Seemingly small decisions at the local and school level can have a tremendous impact. For example, a recent study found that adding just five minutes to students' available lunch time led to a big jump in the amount of fresh produce they ate.
Stay Informed + Stay Connected
Informing yourself about the issues involved in school health and sharing this information with others is an important step in creating meaningful change. It's about learning, sharing and sparking conversations that get people thinking. We encourage you to:
Make a Donation
As a nonprofit organization, we rely on support from people like you so we can continue to make schools healthier places where all children can learn and thrive. Your gift-large or small-will make a meaningful difference.
Make a Donation

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School Food School food directly affects students' health, learning, and lifetime wellness habits. It can also play a powerful role in driving positive change in our nation's food systems.