Food insecurity happens when families struggle to provide enough food for everyone in the household at some point during the year. Childhood hunger affects children’s physical and mental health.
Childhood hunger is one of the most pressing issues in schools today. According to No Kid Hungry, an estimated 75% of educators work with students who regularly come to school hungry.
Children who lack consistent access to nutritious meals can have difficulty learning. Food insecurity affects concentration, memory, mood, and motor skills. All of which are essential to successful learning. Classroom behaviors are affected by hunger as well. A hungry child may have difficulty maintaining self-control and listening to instructions.
Access to free or reduced-price meals through School Nutrition Programs can help fill in the gap when food insecurity affects families. The School Nutrition Programs operated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provide nutritious meals for breakfast, lunch, and after-school meals. The National School Lunch Program provided 4.6 billion lunches in the 2023 fiscal year. Three million of those meals were served to Texas students. The healthy meal initiatives of the School Nutrition Programs are striving to reduce the impact of hunger on learning for Texas students.
 |
Christie Lammers is a Child Nutrition Specialist for Region 7 ESC. Christie is a Registered Dietitian with a Masters degree in Nutrition. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Texas Association For School Nutrition. Before joining the Region 7 team Christie served as the Director of Student Nutrition & Culinary Services for Texarkana ISD and has managed Child Nutrition programs in both Texas and Arkansas. |
References:
Int J Environ Res Public Health.2021 Aug 26; 18 (17):8990 dol 10.3390/ijerph18178990 Food Insecurity and Child Development; A State-of-the-Art Review. Danielle Gallegos, Areana Evers, Peter Sondergeld, Cassandra Pattinson.