This is a website dedicated to food. Plenty of food. We already have over 100 recipes of healthy, delicious foods from many parts of the world. Venu and I are constantly experimenting with new and old recipes, tweaking them, tasting them, photographing them…and the hardest task of all – narrating our stories around the foods we want to share with our readers.

Today, the subject is a full 180 degree turn from the topic of delectably flavorful and wholesome foods. I want to showcase the other end of the spectrum: Hunger. Hunger in our Elementary schools, where the Future Citizens of this country are being raised and groomed.

 

I Don’t Live in a Ghetto

I live in a town called Plano – a suburb of Dallas, Texas. My city, home to a little over 275,000 people, was listed as the third-best place to live in the country, by Time Inc.’s Money magazine in 2016. The city, deemed by Money as a “corporate center with a small-town vibe,” is home to dozens of corporations such as J.C. Penney, Frito-Lay, Liberty Mutual, JPMorgan Chase and the North American headquarters of Toyota. People flock to Plano since it is ranked pretty high among Texas school districts. All this leads to increase in home prices, and those of us that purchased homes before the boom, are sitting on some serious cash.

All in all, I live in a pretty well-to-do neighborhood in a great suburb.

Or so I thought.

A few months back, a casual conversation with a dear friend and neighbor, who is an elementary teacher in a school not more than 5 minutes from where I live, revealed a sordid side to the plentiful, bountiful, and many a time wasteful, wealth I live amidst. The Teacher, as I shall call her, for the sake of keeping the school anonymous, spoke of the increasing number of kids that are coming to school hungry.

I will let The Teacher tell you in her own words:

“Lunch duty has presented additional stresses in recent years for a teacher. In the not so distant past, the largest focus for those supervising was to simply contain the chaos. Mild reminders to exuberant children to stay seated and to keep their vocal enthusiasm from reaching a deafening roar were the primary goals. Now, in elementary schools throughout our communities, these responsibilities are supplanted by the more critical duty of monitoring to ensure that each student has food to eat. What I once took for granted in my west Plano elementary school is no longer possible. Children arrive at school without having breakfast, and in some cases, these same children are at risk for missing other meals too.

How can there be hunger in a community with so many resources? The following personal observations from this past year may shed some light on this subject.

 

He gets to eat only one meal a day!

Inconsistent academic performance was the first indicator that something was amiss for Student # 1. On-going assessments, both formal and informal, indicated that this child was under-performing. There was evidence that a major contributing factor was his inability to focus. As our student-teacher relationship developed, I learned that this student often came to school with an empty stomach. He further shared, over time, that he didn’t always have dinner the evening before. No surprise that a child in this circumstance may not place achievement on a reading test as a priority when he had more pressing personal needs.

 

Hungry = Lethargy

A second student frequently fell asleep in class. While I may not always be the most engaging of teachers, the extent of this problem was unusual. As time went on, it became clear that the most effective motivator for Student # 2 was food. He would “come to life” whenever a student celebrated a birthday and a treat was soon to be shared. Similar to Student # 1, gentle probing made clear that meals were not consistent in this student’s life. Student # 2 was food insecure. His lethargy could be partially attributed to hunger.

 

Shame, Shame, Shame

Student # 3 would regularly sit at the lunch table without food claiming that he was not hungry. This was inconceivable to me as my stomach loudly proclaims that it is time to eat at mid-day. Conversations made clear that this child was uncomfortable going through the lunch line. He, mistakenly thought that it was obvious to everyone that he was part of the Free and Reduced Lunch Program. Despite assurances that this information was confidential, Student # 3 needed encouragement and support throughout the year to eat lunch.

In closing, hunger does exist in our west Plano community. It is sometimes hidden due to many factors which include pride, embarrassment, and a desire to appear like everyone else.”

 

What is the Health Impact of Hunger on a Child?

The long-term consequences of hunger are frightening. Children enduring mal-nourishment aren’t only suffering today, but will most likely suffer well into their future. The effects of hunger, malnutrition, and stress on brain development are not only devastating, but can be irreversible.

  • Food insecure children are sick more often and are more likely to suffer developmental delays.
  • Hunger and malnutrition make the body weak and vulnerable to diseases and infections as the body does not have the fuel to build muscle and fight off infections.
  • Children often have stunted growth as a result of malnutrition.
  • By the time they are teenagers, food-insecure children are twice as likely as their peers to have seen a psychologist or to have been suspended.
  • Hunger results in a lower IQ and less developed brain matter compared to well-nourished children.
  • Hunger and stress effect the functioning of the brain that determines decision making.
  • Each year, because of vitamin A deficiency, more than 2 million children experience severe eyesight issues.
  • Hunger delays development on the cognitive, social and emotional level. This includes reading, language, attention, memory and problem-solving capabilities.

 

Is Ignorance Bliss?

I’ve had conversations with several parents from wealthy suburbs in Dallas. Some are completely unaware that kids are hungry in their local Elementary schools, while some others are aware but questioned why these kids couldn’t use the free lunch program. It appears that hunger in schools is either not openly discussed, nor publicized enough. Whether you realize it or not, this is an issue in your community, too. Food insecurity exists in every county and congressional district in the country and is growing at a fast pace. 

Some statistics taken from the North Texas Food Bank website show 1 out of every 4 kids in North Texas is food insecure – that amounts to almost 300,000 children. Having a job doesn’t mean that you can’t be hungry. Stagnant wages, underemployment, or a chronic illness in the family are contributing factors to low family income. In the U.S., hunger is caused by the prevalence of poverty, not food scarcity. Stable food access is often blocked for low-income families that struggle to balance the need for food with other necessities like paying for rent, car insurance, and other utilities.

 

What Can You do to Help?

Children count on caring adults to recognize their need. Families count on resources provided with dignity.

Talk to your school officials and consider directly donating to your kids’ school (or your neighborhood school if your kids are grown up).

Remember, the school food programs don’t work during holidays and school closures. The following list of programs (not a comprehensive list) are always seeking donations in the North Texas area:

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