We're moving into the holiday season. The months filled with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas usually mean lots of fun and celebrations focused around food. We have treats and trick-or-treat candy for Halloween, huge family dinners for Thanksgiving, and all sorts of delicious traditional food creations for the December holidays. But for many children in our country, the holiday season is not filled with an overabundance of food. In fact, entire days throughout the course of the year are marked by the scarcity of food.
Hunger is a real problem in our country. There are 16 million children struggling with hunger. To put that into perspective, that’s the entire populations of Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago combined. But this isn't just a city problem. Hungry children are found in urban, suburban and rural areas. 1 in 5 American children don't know where there next meal is coming from. ONE in FIVE! That statistic is staggering. That means these hungry children are all around us and they aren't always easy to identify.
Take a look at this video. It's an original documentary titled Going to Bed Hungry: The Changing Face of Child Hunger. WARNING: You may want to grab a tissue before you start watching. I needed one.
To help shine a light on what hunger in America looks like today, Unilever Project Sunlight is focusing their efforts on child hunger this fall and encouraging people to get involved. There are so many ways that you can play a part in helping to end child hunger, whether it's getting involved with your local food bank or making contributions online. And just by talking about the issue and sharing information you'll help to spread the word about child hunger and encourage others to join in the fight to end it. You can start by sharing the video above. I have made it easy with this retweetable link:
Please Share: Going to Bed Hungry: The Changing Face of Child Hunger #sp https://t.co/CyYkZPx301 #ShareAMeal @UnileverUSA @FeedingAmerica
— Chrysa Duran (@ThriftyJinxy) October 13, 2014
To learn more about how to get involved, visit www.ProjectSunlight.us.
Laura says
What a wonderful program to get involved with. No child should go hungry.
Ann Bacciaglia says
This is such a great program for such a serious issue. We help out with the Breakfast for Learning program at our local school.
Chrsytal @ YUM eating says
What a wonderful program. No child should have to go hungry. What Unilever is doing is awesome.
Krystal says
It is a sad state of affairs in our country when one in five children goes hungry in one of the wealthiest nations in the world. It breaks my heart.
Jessica (Savory Experiments) says
What an amazing thing to be a part of! Sometimes it is easy to forget that there is so much child hunger through the world.
Amanda says
What a great program! I’m so glad you are bringing awareness to this!
Rachelle J says
1 in 5? What a heart breaking statistic :(. So thankful for programs like this out there!
Michele P says
I work for a social services agency, and food insecurity is a big problem here in the US. Unfortunately, people don’t like to think about it or talk about it, but with cuts to food stamps that we are seeing, it has gotten even worse. Thanks for promoting awareness to this cause, and Unilever for helping out.
Lisa says
It breaks my heart to see so many kids who are all to familiar with real hunger. My 4 kids are all adopted and all of them knew what it was like to go to bed hungry or to struggle throughout the day from lack of good nutrition! Hoping that there is an end to child hunger soon!
Marina @ Mommy Snippets says
That’s heartbreaking to know that soo many suffer. This is a great campaign. I love what Unilever is doing.
Tracy @ Ascending Butterfly says
I love when brands do something to give back, it is sad that in this day and age that any child should go hungry!
Melissa @ This Girl's Life Blog says
So glad there is a wonderful program like this. We always think about the hunger in other countries but we definitely have kids hungry in our own backyard.
Carly Anderson says
What a wonderful campaign. It makes me so sad that so many children go hungry every day.
Amy Desrosiers says
I love how they are giving back and making a huge difference! feeding hungry kids is crucial!
Lara says
What a great project and even greater cause. NO child should ever go to be hungry. It should just never be!
Shannon Gosney says
This is such a great campaign! I love the idea of ending child hunger. 🙂