It's the last week of school for Maureen Joy Charter school in Durham. The school’s Executive Director Mark Bailey sits in a Kindergarten classroom preparing to distribute boxes of non-perishable food and produce to families of those children. Maureen Joy partnered with Durham Children’s Initiative and the Food Bank to provide these essentials to 200 [...]
Kids Summer Meals (KSM) provides families with children and teens ages 2-17 an additional resource for healthy, nutritious meals for children during the summer months. The Food Bank has sponsored the program since summer 2009 and through it, have provided nearly 1.8 million meals. KSM sites typically offer breakfast and/or lunch for children when school [...]
Although this is the 14th year of our Stop Summer Hunger initiative, it never gets easier to face the fact that hundreds and thousands of children will be worrying about where their next meal will come from. Rather than looking forward to an extended break from homework and responsibilities, they will be counting down the [...]
In our Food Bank’s 34-county service area, more than 300,000 children are eligible for free and reduced-priced meals at school. When the COVID-19 crisis began, it was these kids and teens that our Programs team here at the Food Bank thought about first: what happens for them and their families if schools close, and after-school [...]
For most children, summer break from school lasts 90 days. This is 90 days too long for the nearly 321,000 children in the Food Bank’s service area who rely on school meals. Fewer than 1 in 6 children have access to summer food programs, which means many of these children and their families will be [...]
With your support over the last year, the Food Bank distributed food to approximately 200,000 youth facing hunger in the 34 counties we serve. Unfortunately, we continue to see a devastating impact from COVID-19 for young people, who are left vulnerable to family and school changes. No child should have to worry when he or [...]
"Since COVID-19 our small pantry alone is feeding approximately 50 families per week – a 40% increase from our usual number of families."
Pat saw hunger during her career as a registered nurse and now knows how it feels firsthand.
The adults watched as the brother took a meal for himself but was not eating it. When asked if anything was wrong with the food, the boy responded no, but that he needed to save it for his other younger sister, who was at home.
The first time Shannon received help with food, she was 8 years old. Now she is a middle school teacher and has students who arrive every day hungry. “It is your first worry every day as a teacher,” she says.
