Child Hunger: Bread For The World

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According to Bread for the World, around 795 million people in the world are affected by hunger; nearly 16 million of those people are children from the United States. Bread for the World, also referred to, as “Bread” is a Christian based, grassroots lobbyist group working alongside community members and active Congressman to eradicate hunger not only on the home front but also around the world. Rev Art Simon and other church leaders in the community started bread in 1974 with the mission of ending hunger by influencing members of Congress in Washington, D.C. Their grassroots network was then kick started with “Project 500”. The goal of this project was to acquire 500 advocates for the cause. In 1975, Bread started its first letter writing …show more content…

A big step in the process to get rid of child hunger was the passing of the Improving Child Nutrition Integrity and Access Act of 2016 by the Senate Agriculture Committee. This bill allows children to have access to food during the summer along with allowing states to give summer EBTs to a limited number of children. Although it does not seem like much, summer time lasts three full months. When I was in grade school, I remember a kid telling me that he only eats at school. I found that hard to believe given that I grew up in a family where we were not concerned with putting food on the table. I can’t imagine what that kid felt when school got out and he had to worry about where his next meal was coming from. I always assumed food was not a problem in our nation because of the many charities and food drives. I was shocked when I read in an article by Bread, that only one out of every 20 grocery bags that feed the hungry come from charities or churches. Obviously we are not doing enough since nearly 16 million children are still uncertain where their next meal is coming …show more content…

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that nearly 233 million people in the sub-Saharan region of Africa are suffering from hunger. This number might not be too shocking to some people but when you see that the population of this region is 974 million people as reported by The World Bank, you’ll see that nearly 1 in 4 people are starving. The severity of this issue can be better seen with figure 1 provided by Welt Hunger Hilfe. Bread believes that the best way to get rid of hunger in this part of Africa is to exterminate poverty. To try and bring Africa out of poverty, they have been pushing for the renewal and expansion of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This act offers incentives for countries in Africa to open their economies for free trade. This bill provides Africans with a more reliable income, in 2013 exports from the sub-Saharan totaled nearly 27 billion dollars (Bread). With more income coming to these countries, the people will be able to afford many different products that will help them sustain a healthy

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