• Form a group where each term and definition is represented. There are six different terms and six definitions

• CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAMS
These programs provide free or subsidized nutritious meals for low- or moderate- income children nationwide. For example, the National School Lunch Program in fed 30.7 million children in more than 98,433 schools on a typical day in 2013. This particular program runs by providing per meal cash reimbursements to schools as an incentive to provide nutritious meals to children in need.
• WIC
This is a federally funded preventive program providing low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants and children with nutritious foods, nutrition education, and improved access to health care in order to prevent nutrition-related health problems in pregnancy, infancy and early childhood.
• HUNGER
A condition in which people do not get enough food to provide nutrients (proteins, carbs, fats, vitamins and water) for active and healthy lives. This forces families to often skip meals or go a whole day without eating.

• “AT RISK” OF HUNGER/FOOD INSECURE
This condition describes families who adopt coping mechanisms such as lowering the quality of their diets or seeking emergency food assistance to meet their needs.
• MALNURISHED
This is a condition resulting from inadequate consumption (undernutrition) or excessive consumption (overnutrition) of a nutrient that can impair physical and mental health. Can cause or be the consequence of infectious disease.
• POVERTY LINE
• An official measure of poverty defined by national governments. In the U.S., this was originally calculated as three times the cost of a year supply of “thrifty” food purchases, a diet that hardly provides for adequate or healthy food considerations.

• Find a text on the wall and answer one or more of these questions:
• What is the text saying to you
• How does this text relate to hunger today?

• Every person takes one budget/start card from the start enevelope
• Read the background information
• Put a dollar amount in the starting budget line
• Each person takes a card from envelope one
• Read the card, record the information on your budget
• Repeat for envelopes 2-8
• Everyone go around and share where they started , what happened to result in where they ended up, and how much money they had remaining for food at the end.

What do you discover?

Hunger in America
• According to 2013 data from the US Department of Agriculture
(USDA), over 49 million Americans lived in a household that
faced difficulty affording enough food. 16.7% of all American men, women, and children – nearly 1 in 6 – struggle with food
insecurity in America.
• There is a great need for programs, like child nutrition programs, that fight hunger. In 2013, 14.5% of the U.S. population lived in poverty and the child poverty rate for children under the age of
18 was 19.9% in 2013. One in five children in America was
hungry in 2012.

• Previous USDA studies have shown that children who live in food-insecure households have increased risks of developmental and health problems. Studies have also linked kids growing up in poverty to being obese later on in life.
• 15.8 million children struggled with food insecurity issues in the past year. If children are in food insecure households, their abilities to concentrate, to focus in school, and to be productive members of society are greatly infringed.

The Child Nutrition and WIC
Reauthorization Act
• The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act authorizes all of the federal child nutrition programs – reauthorization provides an opportunity for members of congress to re-affirm their commitment to these antihunger programs. These programs provide funding to ensure that lowincome children have access to healthy and nutritious foods where they live, play, and learn.

Child nutrition programs that could expire on
September 30, 2015 without congressional action are:
• National School Breakfasts and Lunches – on an average day during the
2012-2013 school year, 10.8 million low-income children received free or reduced-price breakfast and 20.8 million low-income children received free or reduced-price lunches.
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The Child and Adult Food Care Program – in 2013, 551 million meals were served in Child and Adult Care Food Homes.
Women, Infants, and Children Program – in 2013, 8.6 million women, infants, and children participated in the WIC program.
Summer Meals Program – in July 2013, according to USDA data, over three million children participated in the summer lunch program on an average day.

Child Nutrition Reauthorization –
Support Funding For Child Nutrition
Programs
• Congress needs to reauthorize the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act; the current law – the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 – is set to expire in September 2015. This will help ensure that children get the nutritious foods that they need.

At #NFTYConvention we’re telling Congress to support child nutrition programs so kids get the food they need: rac.org/childhunger @The Religious Action Center
At #NFTYConvention we’re telling Congress to support child nutrition programs so kids get the food they need: rac.org/childhunger @TheRAC