Hunger

Try this for an experiment. Friday after you get off work, don't eat again until Monday morning. Have a bowl of cereal and some juice. Then go to an important meeting or sit down with an important project.

Children across America and right here in Charleston face this every weekend and every day. For whatever reason, the only reliable source of food they have is the free breakfast and lunch provided in school. Once the weekend comes, they are on their own.

Teachers have known this for years. Teachers know that children who are chronically malnourished can't learn. This is part of the problem with our education systems, especially in the low-income areas.

Next time you hear someone rant and rave about how a teenager or young adult should just get a good job or go to college, try to remember his/her brain most likely was handicapped by chronic starvation when he/she was a small helpless child. He/she was unable to learn because of the crippling effects of chronic hunger.

Backpack Buddies is a program that is trying to help. Non-perishable, nutritious, kid friendly food is sent home with children and their siblings. Enough for three dinners and two lunches and breakfasts, enough to last them through the weekend.

My place of employment sponsors an elementary school here in Charleston. Ask your child's teacher about the program. Is there one in your local school? Or go to the website at America's Second Harvest to learn how to help.


Loki contemplates a world in which every child has enough food.