"A Place at the Table"
I recently watched a documentary called "A Place at the Table". This documentary brings to light the level of food insecurity in the United States. 50 Million Americans - 1 in 4 children - are unsure of where there next meal will come from. The documentary showed several families that struggled with hunger for different reasons. One family of seven had an income of $120 biweekly. They did not qualify for food stamps and they were struggling to find ways to make the little food they had stretch. One member of the family, Rosie, was a second grader. She would often depend on friends and neighbors to feed her. She struggled a lot in school because she was not able to focus. She could only think of how hungry she was and wonder where her next meal was coming from. Rosie described how her teacher would turn into a banana and the students around her would turn into apples. Food was all she could think about. The teacher was at first unaware of the situation. She could not figure out why Rosie would never listen or pay attention. As the school year continued, however, she discovered the issue and did everything in her power to mitigate it. She often brought food from a pantry to Rosie's house and provided her with snacks. For everything she was doing, she still felt guilty for not being able to do more or provide more nutritious food.
Every Tuesday, I volunteer in a fourth grade class. For the last two weeks, I have noticed that one of the paraprofessionals provides a student with bananas. Last week, I witnessed her check his lunch box to only find fruit. She shook her head and said, "there's nothing filling". I immediately thought of this documentary. For everything she was doing, she felt she could do more.
As a teacher, I think that it is important to be aware of the issue of hunger in America. People often think of poverty in other nations, but they do not often consider it here. 50 million Americans do not know where their next meal will come from. 1 and 4 children go to sleep hungry. For many children, the only food they will eat all day is the food they receive at school lunch. How can a child learn if all they can think about is where there next meal will come from?
Have you heard of the "End 68 Hours of Hunger" initiative? This is something I have seen teachers do with their students so raise awareness. These hours represent the time that school ends on Friday to the start of school on Monday, if the schools provide a breakfast program and students access free/reduced lunch etc. I can see you heading up such a program in your future life. It seems so silly that anyone should go hungry in this country with the wealth we posses. It's angering, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt sickens me how some go hungry while others, it seems, have too much. The growing epidemic of child hunger is terrifying yet I feel like as educators we're somewhat limited in what we can do help these kids. Also, I am wondering your take on the whole Michelle Obama health crack down in the schools? Because you mentioned the fourth grade teacher commenting on the fruit and how unfilling it is, do you think that transfers over to the idea that children are not even fed enough in schools anymore? Or fed the complete wrong foods for what thy need? For some students, the free lunch they get at school is the only meal they eat during the day (as I've seen in some areas with extensive poverty) so how does one deal with this fact while also keeping to the food codes and regulations?
ReplyDeleteI will be very direct with how I feel about this, and that is that I really hate how some kids starve while others that don't waste food. I feel that there should be programs to collect food from those that are not going to use a certain food product that they may throw out. There is so many things we can do to get food to these starving children but I feel society is lazy. It is great that the paraprofessional provided students with bananas. I feel the good teachers are the ones that will actually look around the room during lunch or snack time and make sure that someone has something to eat. I used to be given snacks and breakfast through my 4th grade teacher when I was in school. I would get a good lunch packed, but never had breakfast. I was always at before school program and there by 6 am. They noticed that I would sit there and didn't eat breakfast but it was because my dad had to be in work so early that there was never anytime to make breakfast, we needed sleep. The teachers used to bring me breakfast sandwiches and cereals a lot. That little help really makes a difference in the students life. Also, some students performance can be bad due to hunger. It is really important to catch these issues in the classroom
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