Thanksgiving represents a time to express gratitude for the blessings and people in our lives, often over shared feasts of endless options. Yet, the holiday is also a time to recognize the other side of reality: those less fortunate who face food insecurity throughout the year. Food banks can be seen adding volunteers during the holiday season to provide Thanksgiving meals for the less fortunate - and while necessary and giving, these efforts merely scratch the surface of food needs facing individuals and families annually.
A Silent Crisis
Many families face a silent crisis of food insecurity that affects all household members. Simply put, stretched resources make providing ongoing healthy home food options difficult. The latest stats from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicate that 13.5% of U.S. households (2023) could not provide their homes with enough food at some point during the year due to a lack of resources. The percentage represents over 13.8 million children in the U.S., drastically affecting those below the poverty threshold. According to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) represents a first line of defense against nationwide hunger. However, these resources are often too low to address needs adequately and have recently faced barriers to advancing additional funds.
Tara Reid-Cherry, Strategos Group’s Partner and Education and Juvenile Justice Advocate, has remained a strong proponent of tackling food insecurity inside communities. In her eyes, more can be done to help combat child hunger and place food on the table for families in need.
"Empty stomachs and rumbling bellies are not just personal struggles, they are a reflection of a broken system. A hungry child cannot learn, a hungry adult cannot work, and a hungry society cannot thrive," Reid-Cherry said.
The School Effect
School food programs represent relied-on mechanisms to help relieve child hunger nationwide. School breakfast and lunch programs have long existed in the U.S. public education landscape, offering those with financial constraints a helping hand in their children’s nutritional needs. When economic hardships swept the country during the pandemic, the USDA instituted universal meal programs to alleviate food stresses in every state. It represented an experiment of sorts that provided free school meals for all.
Even though the federal program ended in 2022, some states continued the effort independently. Coalitions have cropped up, seeking to sustain the momentum of programs found in eight states more nationally. Footing the bill for these programs has raised concern as some states underestimated the costs, yet the sentiment behind helping more children receive nutritional benefits in schools has remained strong.
Tied to Learning Outcomes
The impact of food insecurity stretches beyond basic needs. A Pandemic Recovery Survey earlier this year revealed a strong correlation between food insecurity and learning outcomes in children. While learning loss occurred across the entire spectrum of learners, students facing food insecurity were the most severely affected. Lower math and reading scores were apparent in surveys globally, where the US reported 44.2% of food-insecure students impacted.
Outside organizations are part of the in-school solutions to improve nutrition and help with learning outcomes. Advocates work with established school food programs to assist in better nutritional programs that impact more children. According to Newsweek, with nearly 30 million receiving their breakfast and lunches from public K-12 schools, the USDA released a new set of future standards to improve nutrition in public school meal offerings in the fall of 2025. The long-term objective is to improve children's overall nutrition, positively impacting future learning.
Many factors are at play in addressing the complexities of food insecurity nationally, from economics within communities to the cost of maintaining food programs within states. Sound in the present solutions will matter most for those struggling to provide healthy food options that prepare their children for learning success. Future planning matters, but adequately managing the present-day realities remains vital for those in need. Allow Thanksgiving to remind us all that a concerted, collective effort will be necessary to tackle the everyday hardships of food insecurity that directly impact children's future health and learning.
