Get Involved

Welcome back school lunch friends! Many of us are concluding our school's Thanksgiving lunches and are ready for a break. I am with you on that! This year has been a long one, and many of us are getting burnt out. Many of our students and their families are feeling it as well, some won't be celebrating as much this year. Be it a job loss or the loss of a family member, the holidays can be tough all over. Food insecurity makes it worse. When you don't know where your next meal is going to come from, all this talk of Thanksgiving feasts can be depressing for some.

Today I want to talk about getting involved. How can you, your family and your students get involved and fight food insecurity? The Beef Magazine offers some useful advice to parents and community members that includes getting kids involved. Children will see hunger or feel it themselves. Shielding them from the fact that hunger exists can do more harm than good. Talking with kids about it helps to develop empathy and nurtures their compassion, advice from Lois Brandt, author of Maddie's Fridge a children's book about food insecurity.

Help kids organize a food drive in school. Project advisors/leaders/planners/adult helpers don't always have to be teachers. Staff can get involved and what better group of staff to organize and help kids with a food drive than food service staff?

Feeding America Food Insecurity in America, Causes and Solutions

One of the leading organizations fighting food insecurity in the US is Feeding America. On their website they discuss how food insecurity can impact families in more ways than simple hunger.

*Health Considerations-especially when a decision is made to pay for food rather than medication

*Damage to a child's ability to learn and grow-caused by hunger, anxiety and stress

*Difficult decisions for seniors, many on fixed incomes-paying for food or healthcare or heat and electricity.

What does Feeding America suggest we can do to help? Get Involved! Donate to a local food pantry, don't look the other way, reach out and DO something. Feeding America offers an app that connects donors with opportunities to donate. It is called MealsConnect. No matter how small or large, every little bit helps. Time is as valuable as money in this case. As Ms Prime stated in my video interview with her, volunteers are always welcome, to stock shelves, do the shopping, man the pantry, help the customers. Encourage kids to get involved as well. They can do incredible things with a little encouragement and their involvement often brings in more kids and their parents. Get involved, get kids involved. One step at a time, one community, one family at a time.

As the holidays come closer remember those who may not have as much as you. Make a donation to a food drive, volunteer at your local food pantry or soup kitchen (if available), check in on your neighbors. Share a meal with a friend who may have lost a job or family member. We can all make a difference. Enjoy your time with your families this week and remember those how may not have the chance to have a Thanksgiving meal.

Join me next time for more from the School Nutrition Association and the federal programs that can help us all fight food insecurity.