“A lot of times families have a really hard time making ends meet. It's hard to keep up if you're living off of minimum wage …and you have multiple people to feed,” said Doron Pedahzur, No Kid Hungry youth ambassador in Austin, Texas.
This summer, our Youth Ambassador Program gave young people across the country the opportunity to fight hunger in their communities. Pedahzur is one of the many participants this summer who had the opportunity of engaging in this fulfilling work.
Each of our youth ambassadors have created an impact on their communities in their own ways.
Brady McGinley served in northern New Hampshire. “We got to see a lot of the kids here having breakfast before their summer school day begins,” he said. “I've really enjoyed talking with the kids. At the end of the day, they're the people we're serving. So we definitely wanna listen to what their opinions are.”
For fellow Youth Ambassador Tansy Huang, their work has brought them closer to their passions and identity.
“I think it's definitely sparked a lot more passion in me because you get to actually see the real change instead of just reading about it in class and just seeing articles about it,” they shared.
Huang hopes to use this experience to expand on their knowledge of food justice within queer communities. “I am really interested in learning and talking more about trans access to food. There's very little published literature on that and trans people are much more likely than cis[gender] counterparts to experience food insecurity,” they explained.
Like Huang, our other youth ambassadors plan to keep uplifting their communities long after their internship is over. Pedazhur aims to continue inspiring and supporting children in need. “My ultimate goal is to take this idea, put it into words, go out into the community, and help these kids feel like they may not have everything, but that doesn't have to be how it is all the time. You have all these resources, you're not alone in this at all.”
McGinley hopes to hone in on the power that young people hold. “We are the future, we're the ones that are gonna be leading these programs and leading the charge against childhood hunger in the future.”
As the Youth Ambassador Program enters into its 11th year, it has connected close to 350 students with opportunities to help serve in communities both big and small, urban and rural. This summer alone, we have over 40 youth ambassadors helping to pack and distribute meals, connect families to resources like SNAP and P-EBT, and making a difference in children’s lives every day.
Follow our Youth Ambassadors’ lead and join us in ending childhood hunger today!
