However, this program also has limited benefits, with specific items that program participants can receive.
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) offers free and reduced price lunches through the school. More than 19 million children received free or reduced price lunches, through the NSLP, in the 2008-2009 school year. All schools are eligible to participate, and participating schools "also receive agricultural commodities (unprocessed or partially processed foods) as a supplement to the per-meal cash reimbursements, in amounts based on the number of lunches they serve" ("National School Lunch"). Although this program helps ensure school-aged children receive at least one meal each day, it does not provide food for other meals, on weekends, or during school holidays, including summer break.
The School Breakfast Program (SBP) was created to help ensure school children were receiving a nutritious breakfast. In the 2008-2009 school year, 10.8 million children participated in the SBP, in more than 86,000 schools, each day. Eighty-two percent of these children received the breakfast free or at a reduced price ("School Breakfast"). However, again, this program does not address the other meals children need, in the evening, on weekends, and during school holidays. Nor does this or the NSLP address the needs of the younger children in the household that don't go to school.
This is such an overwhelming and critical problem, I felt there had to be something I could do to help. After much research, I found that our area was one of the many that had yet to implement Feeding America's BackPack Program. "The BackPack Program is designed to meet the needs of hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations" ("BackPack Programs"). This seemed to be exactly the type of program our community could utilize to help offset hunger.
The program was developed at the Arkansas Rice Depot, when a local school nurse said that students were coming to her with dizziness and stomachaches, due to hunger. Through the program, backpacks are filled with food that children take home over the weekends or holiday vacations. The backpacks are filled with nonperishable food items and are distributed discreetly. A program can be developed to provide food for younger siblings in the home, as well as providing food during the long summer break ("BackPack Programs").
I contacted the local food bank to see if they had a program like this available. They didn't, but they were very interested in the possibility of starting it. Implementing this program is going to take a lot of work. A committee of community members...
Youth Services, Juvenile Justice System America's Cradle to Prison Pipeline: A Children's Defense Fund Report America is still a country in which underprivileged children are discriminated against and "pipelined" into a life of problems and failure rather than success and good health. Something must be done; it's the responsibility of all adults to rally together and take action to correct this far-reaching, systematic, cyclic problem. The main steps that must be taken
Childhood Hunger and Structional Functionalism Childhood Hunger and Structural-Functionalism Theory In this essay, I have discussed about childhood hunger. I have described how poverty, hunger, and lack of education play a major role in childhood hunger. I have tried to link low income, nutrition and education with childhood hunger and their long-term effects. I have tried to correlate and integrate all these topics and have presented a macro-level perspective. In the end,
Subsequently there is a "...hunger for reforms, for more freedom and accommodation with the west." (Asghar a.) This movement of the progressive youth as well other sectors of the population, such as women, was clearly seen in the 1999 unrest in Iran where mainly university students took to the streets of Tehran in order to express their dissatisfaction with the orthodox regime. There were more than 20,000 students who took part
Real America? Interestingly enough, one of the themes in the post-modernism period of American history has been the reexamination of the "real America," particularly the moral, ethical and sexual changes that have evolved since the turn of the century. This has not been a new theme, nor has it been relegated to non-fiction. At the beginning of the 20th century, American novelists were expanding the role fiction took by examining
Obesity in the United States The extent of the Problem Obesity as one commentator says, is not just a "matter of aesthetics" but has become a major public health problem in the United States. Similarly, Federal health officials have categorically stated that "the growing prevalence of obesity in the United States represents a significant health threat to millions of Americans." Obesity is seen by health officials in a serious light and is
Malnutrition and Children in the U.S. How serious is the effect of undernourishment and malnutrition on children and infants? According to The World Bank, a child that is undernourished can expect "devastating and enduring" problems in life. Behavioral and cognitive development can be impaired, and whether or not a child is well-nourished in his or her first years can have "a profound effect on his or her health status" (World Bank).
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now