Written by Aerial Whiting
What if Arkansas could solve its childhood hunger problem — by 2015?
That is precisely what Share Our Strength’s “No Kid Hungry” Arkansas campaign aspires to accomplish.
The Family and Consumer Sciences honor society featured Joyce Hardy, a member of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, Tuesday, Feb. 22, in the Olen Hendrix Building, where she spoke about the campaign. That same day, the nonpartisan political group Liberty United hosted Karen Kelley, assistant professor in the College of Nursing, who led a discussion in the American Studies Building on welfare.
The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance started in 2008 and is an organization that helps food banks by ordering food, awarding grants and providing a way for food banks to network. Share Our Strength is a national nonprofit that seeks to end childhood hunger in the U.S.; its Arkansas campaign began last October. Arkansas is the 11th state the group has come to aid.
According to Hardy, Arkansas is No. 1 in food insecurity and No. 1 in childhood hunger in the nation.
Hardy discussed No Kid Hungry’s goals for its first year, which are to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by eligible families and to increase the number of summer feeding sites and number of children who are fed at those sites.
Of the eligible Arkansans, 72 percent are participating in SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program. To increase SNAP participation, No Kid Hungry is helping families fill out the application and trying to remove the stigma of food assistance programs, Hardy said.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is let them [eligible families] know it’s not just a taking process; if they receive SNAP benefits, they are helping the local economy,” Hardy said.
Many students who participate in free and reduced-price meals during the school year do not have easy access to food during the summers, Hardy said. In response to this problem, the USDA funds the Summer Food Service Program, which provides meals at feeding sites to children.
Hardy said Arkansas needs more feeding sites for the program and that many children who would participate cannot due to lack of transportation; No Kid Hungry aims to remove this barrier.
Share Our Strength is trying to give incentives to feed children in the summer, whether it is in a camp setting, an apartment complex or a church. If 50 percent of children in a community qualify for free and reduced lunches, all of the children in that community are able to eat for free at the food sites.
That 50 percent figure is crucial because as Kelley, quoting “Bridges out of Poverty” by Ruby Payne, said, “‘When the free and reduced-price lunch rate at the schools hits 50 percent, our communities are becoming unsustainable.'”
Kelley’s focus, however, was not childhood hunger specifically, but poverty and welfare as a whole. She spoke primarily about Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, which replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the welfare reform legislation President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1996.
TANF is cash assistance to poor families, and people may receive this assistance for up to 60 months.
Kelley said those with a favorable, “liberal” view of welfare and those with an unfavorable, “conservative” view of welfare both have valid arguments for their stances. She emphasized the need for job creation and job training, but she also said there is a need for “safety nets.”
“I really look at this from a biblical perspective,” Kelley said. “And in that, I would have to say, my honest opinion is neither political persuasion really has the answers. But I don’t think it gives us the right to opt out of that [giving assistance to others], either. … It is a God-sized problem.”
