by Monica Palmer
Food Insecurity is an unseen problem in our society. It is often buried in shame and quietly suffered by those in need. One in five Missourians struggles to feed their family, so chances are pretty good that you actually know someone who is silently dealing with hunger.
There is one particular group of people who are very good at detecting hunger: teachers. School teachers see the heads drooping down on desks; they understand the inability of hungry kids to engage in learning; and they recognize the intense irritability which leads to behavior issues.
A teacher friend of mine tells me she can always spot kids who are struggling with hunger, because they come in on Monday morning with an “empty tank.” They’re essentially running on fumes, because their last healthy meal was the school lunch they had on Friday. Expecting these kids to spark to life and get down to the work of learning is the same as running a car down to “E” and expecting it to start up when you turn the key.
We have research galore which points out connections between food insecurity and lower test scores. We know that kids who experience gaps in their food intake are more likely to struggle with basic social interactions and less likely to graduate from high school.
As a hunger advocate, I am deeply saddened by these facts. As a parent of school-aged children, I am frightened for my children as well.
Hunger in the classroom is not an isolated problem. It is a distraction, and it affects every child in the class. If a teacher’s resources are being spent trying to ignite a child who has no fuel to learn, the other students may be left idling.
Even if you don’t have a child or grandchild in school right now, you should be concerned about how food insecurity is thwarting the education of our kids, because these kids are tomorrow’s workforce.
Hungry kids can’t learn, and they grow up to be adults who can’t earn.
Let’s recognize that hunger is not someone else’s problem. It’s my problem, and it’s yours. We have a vested interest in feeding hungry Missourians.
Please spend some time on our site www.FeedingMissouri.org to educate yourself about the issue of food insecurity in our state, and find out how you can get involved in the fight against hunger. Feeding hungry kids fuels our future.
