Today's guest blog post comes to us from Mary Sue Milliken, an incredible chef, author and friend who's been a longtime supporter of the work No Kid Hungry.
Our nation is full of amazing moms. Rural moms, urban moms. Career moms, stay-at-home moms. Moms who work multiple jobs to make ends meet, and executive moms who lead companies.
Yet all moms have one thing in common: we want the best for our kids, and that means keeping them safe, healthy and fed. As a chef and mother of two grown kids, the most important and basic thing I think of each day is what my family will eat.
But millions of moms face a harsher reality. Despite our abundance, we live in a nation where 1 in 6 kids live in families who struggle to put food on the table. In this land of plenty, there are still mothers who have to make tough tradeoffs about whether to buy groceries or pay the electricity bill. There are mothers who skip meals so their kids have enough to eat.
13 million kids experience hunger in the U.S. Some are hungry every day. Others are hungry from the time school ends on Friday until they return Monday morning. And as we near the end of the school year, I can’t help but think about the kids who will be hungry all summer long.
Childhood hunger is a problem in our country. But it’s a problem with a solution.
State and local lawmakers are a big part of that solution since they have the ability to strengthen policies that ensure all kids have access to healthy meals. And governors are critical to making sure nutrition programs reach kids. Here in California, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law last year a bill that will directly connect nearly 800,000 low-income children with free school meals. This means less red tape for families and schools, and easier access to school meals for the kids who need them.
Another solution is our country’s federal nutrition programs, like school breakfast, the national summer meals program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
That’s why for the last eight years I’ve been on the board of Share Our Strength, the parent organization of No Kid Hungry, a national campaign to end childhood hunger. We know that these programs ease the burden on hardworking moms, and connecting families and kids to them are critical to ending childhood hunger.
And while we know that these programs have barriers, we also know how to bridge them.
School breakfast helps millions of kids start their day with a nutritious meal so they’re ready to learn. But the traditional way of serving the meal before the start of the day is problematic. Breakfast may only take a few minutes, but every one of them is precious to a working mom who relies on public transportation to get her kids to school. Making breakfast part of the regular school day, like lunch, solves that problem.
After the school doors close for the year, summer becomes the hungriest time of year for kids. Families face increased financial pressure when their monthly grocery bills rise more than $300. Summer meals ensure kids get the nutrition they need while easing the strain on working moms.
And, throughout the year, SNAP gives low-income families resources to shop for and cook healthy meals. SNAP supports hardworking moms, and the program should be strengthened and protected from policies that would punish people for losing their jobs or having their work hours cut.
People are hungry across our country, but not because there isn’t enough food or because we lack methods to nourish the neediest. Using proven, practical solutions, we can end childhood hunger by ensuring that kids have access to critical nutrition programs.
This Mother’s Day I’m reminded that moms have a lot of things to worry about every day. We can make sure access to healthy food for their families isn’t one of them.
Mary Sue Milliken is the co-owner and co-chef of Border Grill in Los Angeles, CA. She’s the author of five cookbooks and a TV personality, having starred in the third season of Top Chef Masters and Too Hot Tamales on the Food Network.
