Childhood Hunger Rampant in Parts of Western North Carolina

Mobile delivery increases the accessibility of summer meal programs for children who rely on food assistance during the school year. Across the country, multiple initiatives by local governments, schools, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations are working to extend participation in summer meal programs. Many of these programs receive support from the USDA, but additional grants have allowed organizations to extend their range of delivery, as have partnerships with food trucks and transportation services.

Funded by a grant from the Colorado Health Foundation, several nonprofits are working to fill the summer food security gap for children who rely on school meals. Several groups, including Pine River Shares and Friends with Food, have partnered with the Education Literacy Health and Inspiration Community Center to provide free lunches to needy schoolchildren. When the school district ceased operating the meal program, ELHI took over the operations, serving the children of families who already come to the center for other activities.

For environmental organization GrowNYC, their one-acre teaching farm on Governor’s Island became a victory garden for New Yorkers who aren’t having their basic needs met during the COVID-19 pandemic. While future land development on the island could impact their work, the farm is on track to produce about 20,000 pounds of food that is distributed by other groups like the Black Feminist Project as free or low-cost coronavirus relief food boxes.

In the United States, millions of people lack reliable access to food while hundreds of thousands of pounds of leftover food is thrown away. Fooding Forward is one of several non-profits in Philadelphia working directly against in order to donate food waste to "groups who can get that food to people in need."

Food trucks have taken much of the United States by storm, but now the concept is being applied to helping keep children well nourished during summer months when school is out. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, trucks are now roaming the streets in St. Paul, Minnesota serving nutritional meals to children in the local school district.

The Greater Cleveland Food Bank, and other food banks across the country, are working to provide more comprehensive services for the food-insecure people they serve; those services include partnering with community organizations to help with employment, health care, and housing.

Common Pantry provides assistance to those facing food insecurity, and recently opened a new facility to offer housing information and assistance with job searches, government benefits, health care and other services. The Pantry also started a nutrition program, teaching people about the science between food and health, as well as how to cook healthy meals at home.

Produce prescription programs like FreshRx Oklahoma and Recipe4Health are taking off as ways to combat heart problems and other diseases like diabetes. These programs provide free fruits and veggies to participants, helping increase access to healthy foods and address food insecurity. Research over the course of a year shows Recipe4Health participants significantly lowered their cholesterol and food security rates among participants dropped from 59% to 48%.

Double Up Food Bucks offers dollar-for-dollar matching of up to $10 daily for fresh fruits and vegetables for those enrolled in SNAP. The program addresses affordability issues that historically prevented people from accessing fresh, nutritious foods. Double Up Food Bucks works with more than 250 grocery stores throughout the state to provide widespread access to fresh produce.

To combat food insecurity, the nonprofit Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services delivers free, nutritious meals to Japanese seniors in local residential communities, Boyle Heights, and East Los Angeles.