This week, state and national organizations are bringing awareness to—and fighting to end—childhood hunger.
In Washington, chefs including Raleigh’s Ashely Christensen and other advocates are meeting with elected officials about the No Kid Hungry campaign, an initiative from non-profit organization Share Our Strength that works to end child hunger by connecting kids to nutrition programs such as school breakfasts and summer meals.
And in Raleigh the Inter-faith Food Shuttle, in collaboration with WRAL and Radio One, is focusing on fighting hunger all over North Carolina.
WRAL will air local and national documentaries about the issue and will hold a fundraiser to benefit the Inter-faith Food Shuttle’s HungerFreeNC community movement this Friday.
HungerFreeNC initiatives include nutrition education, urban agriculture, mobile markets, workforce development and community building.
The Inter-faith Food Shuttle reports on its website that 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 4 children in North Carolina currently don’t have access to healthy food. This is in line with a recent national report that found that 26 percent of North Carolina children lived in poverty in 2012.
The INDY reported in January that, at some point since the year 2000, 1 in 6 North Carolinians has not had access to nutritious food and that food insecurity—the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s measurement of access to food sufficient for a healthy, active lifestyle for all household members— is at 19.3 percent in our state.
To help tackle food insecurity, Rep. Yvonne Holley, D-Wake, helmed a study group in the North Carolina House on food deserts, before the beginning of the short legislative session.
A Joint Legislative Study Committee will be appointed to study the issue further.
