End child hunger in America; one step at a time
Kids starve every single day, but Americans are so scared of becoming socialist that they refuse to help.
Kids starve every single day, but Americans are so scared of becoming socialist that they
refuse to help. Here in America, schools provide lunches for students who cannot make them athome for whatever reason. Yet they refuse to make it accessible to everyone. Many kids’ only
meals are those they receive at school–leaving all these children hungry and unfocused.Many of us have experienced the chaos that can be school lunches. Picture yourself, or
your child, walking up to the lunch line yet again, unsure of whether or not they will be able tohave food that day. Sometimes they get lucky and they are told they can’t get food that day
before they get to the counter. Sometimes though, you get all the way through the line and up tothe computer to type in your school number, only to find out your parents hadn’t paid the bill
yet. So, they take your food from your hands, likely the only meal you’ll be able to have that day, and throw it in the trash. They do this in front of all your classmates. Some laugh, some pity you, but you can’t really focus because your stomach is grumbling so loud.
You walk back to your seat and sit waiting for the rest of your classmates to finish eating. Another day without lunch, another day without food. Your parents are working 9-5 jobs with additional part time jobs on the weekends just trying to make ends meet, they give everything they can to the school. Still, you go hungry.
This is the reality for many kids. Free and reduced lunches exist for kids, the problem isthat almost no one falls into the free lunch category. This means kids are still racking up school
lunch debt. Attempts have been made by many donors trying to clear lunch debt for the kids atschools only for the school boards to deny it. For no other reason than they don’t want to. They
act as if debts don’t get passed around. Some people have their families to pay off their debts.Some have close friends, but these children can’t have access to food because the school
board doesn’t feel like accepting a donation.
Our problem would be solved with free lunches for all students. Covid has proven thatfree lunches are absolutely able to happen. It happened for almost three years at some schools.
Why can’t we do it now? What’s stopping us from making the lives of the people around us
better?
This problem doesn’t stop at the kids going hungry either. This causes kids to be moreunfocused in school because you can only ignore the pain for so long. These students are constantly doing their best with what they have. Why can’t we match that energy?
It’s upsetting the idea that some kids are going to school hungry every single day. It disgusts me. We force these children to go to school. We force them to go sit in the lunchroom. We force them to sit next to their classmates and see so many other people comfortable, smiling, and happy. While some have to sit and wait, maybe they’ll get in contact with their parents and they’ll pay off enough of the debt that you can have lunch that day. You usually give up on that thought pretty fast. So you just wait, hoping someone will share their food with you. If you’re lucky you won’t get caught. If you do though, you get reprimanded and you and your friend aren’t allowed to sit next to each other at lunch anymore. You become a little more of an outcast each day.
What is wrong with us, that we won’t just pay that few extra tax dollars each year tomake sure no kid goes hungry? Is it that inconvenient? Is it that horrible of an idea? Think abouthow much better your lives, your kids’ lives, and your friends’ lives could have been if they could eat.
Think about your priorities. Think about your leaders’ priorities. Does a country where kids starve every single day sound like a country you want to be a part of? Nobody deserves to starve.
Don’t let this happen. Efforts can be made. Google is free. You can access it almost anywhere. Don’t follow blindly and take action. Just because they think they can get away with this stuff doesn’t mean they can. We can make the world a better place.
