No Kid Hungry is a nationwide campaign help eliminate child hunger in the United States.

My Personal Story

As a child, there were many days, especially in the Summer, that we didn’t have food. My mother worked hard to make ends meet but wasn’t always able to do so. I can remember going weeks where the only thing we had to eat outside of school was peanut butter. Better than nothing, but not ideal for health and development of growing children. There were others that had it worse than we did, that didn’t even have peanut butter.

As you can imagine, that makes things like No Kid Hungry near and dear to my heart. I know what it’s like to be a child who can only think about the next meal time, to be ashamed, embarrassed and proud. In my situation, the long term effects were eating disorders, learning challenges and self esteem issues. To be honest, my fare was better than so many others.

No Kid Hungry

No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization that is working to end hunger and poverty. Over a million families have used No Kid Hungry’s texting service to find free summer meals for their kids.

• 1 in 6 American children live with hunger
• 1 in 4 in the state of Arkansas
• 6 out of 7 children won’t get the summer meals they need
• 83% of teachers are concerned about their students not having enough to eat in the summer

The program teams up with schools and community groups across the country to run summer meal sites where kids can eat breakfast and lunch for free. They help local organizations launch and operate these sites and help fund necessary equipment or mobile meal trucks.

Share Summer Events

I recently had the privilege of attending one of their Share Summer events. There was much fun to be had for the many children who attended. The event was to help spread awareness and they will be having events across the country.

Tyson Foods, who is sponsoring the campaign, had sent their giant chicken to help spread the word as well! He was dancing to the music spun by the live DJ and spreading the fun during the event as children and adults alike played games.

Games at the event included giant Jenga, a hula hooping station, and corn-hole Inside, there were goody bags for the children as well as arts and crafts and face painting. The kids were certainly creative as they colorful painted aprons and sported their sunglasses! You can see a video of some of the event here.

A Problem We Can Solve

It’s far beyond time for all of us to come together and help to eliminate this problem. There is no reason in this country any child should go hungry, as collectively, we have the resources to help.

For children who rely on the free meals they get at school, summer can be the hungriest time of the year. Free summer meals sites at schools and community centers are the answer.

Text ‘FOOD’ or ‘COMIDA’ to 877-877 to find free summer meals for your kids.

How You Can Help End Childhood Hunger

Share Summer! Share this campaign, everywhere and often!

Someone you may know may be in need of this program. For my family, those that were closest to us had no idea that we were going through that situation. It’s not something people tend to share with friends and loved ones.

In today’s social media climate, it IS something we can help with by making it known so that they can have that resource.

Parents, grandparents and caregivers can text ‘FOOD’ or ‘COMIDA’ to 877-877 to find meals for their children, from anywhere in the country. Learn more here.

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This post is brought to you by No Kid Hungry, all opinions are my own and not influenced by sponsors or others.  Statistics above were provided by the sponsor.