SHARE OUR STRENGTH - Official Website
http://strength.org/
Everyday when I pick up my children from school, they are ALWAYS hungry. My 10 y.o. son often proclaims, "Mom, I am a growing boy...what can I say?!" My 7 y.o. daughter has a better excuse to be hungry; she is in dance 3 afternoons a week. So her message to me is, "Please mommy, make sure you have a yummy snack for me when you pick me up from dance." She knows how to work it with her smiling eyes and big sweet grin.
Sometimes when I am running late with dinner, they would be screaming, "We are Starving!" My nerdy hubby and I often turn serious at this point and correct them sternly, "You are not starving, no one is starving in America."
As parents, we want our children to realize that we do not live in a state of impoverishment...far from it. It would be wrong even for us to use that phase lightly.
The statistic in the media often compares our U.S. standard of living to 3rd world countries. While that unfortunately still stands true, I am saddened to realize that there are people "Starving" in America.
What is more devastating to me is that these are children. Children who are in their critical stages of physical and mental development.
The good news is that we can do something about it. We can ALL do something about it. Share Our Strength is a wonderful organization that educates and provides different avenues for people to get involved. Your Local Food Pantry is also a great way to start.
In Santa Clarita, we have two very active organizations.
Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry - http://www.scvfoodpantry.org/index.php
Help The Children - http://www.helpthechildren.org/about-help-the-children.php
So Today, I am inspired to
Pledge to Help End Childhood Hunger in America.
What will you do today?
Thank you for your great post about childhood hunger. It's often an invisible issue, so thank you for helping to highlight it.
ReplyDeleteWe have Resources set up for bloggers who may want to add badges or images to their sites, which you might find of interest: http://nokidhungry.org/blogger-resource-center.
Thanks again,
Clay from Share Our Strength