No Kid Hungry Weekly Tip Sheet: Three Meals Daily at School, School Lunches and Some Weighty Reports

Kids, hunger, poverty, social justice and the little stories that lift us up: No Kid Hungry's weekly round-up of news, articles and links you might be interested in. Did we miss a great story? Drop us a line and let us know.

  • There's a must-read story in USA TODAY this week about schools increasingly becoming a place where many kids get their meals - not just lunch, but breakfast and dinner. The story wraps up with a great quote from our own Billy Shore: "This is such a solvable problem. Solving poverty is complex. Feeding children is not."  
  • How hungry is America? The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) released new data today showing that one in six families in the United States reported an inability to afford enough food. We know these kinds of statistics and headlines start to blur together after a while, but take a moment to think about that number and what it means, here in the wealthiest nation on earth.  
  • If one weighty report wasn't enough for you (no judgement, we have quite a few hardcore policy nerds on staff at No Kid Hungry and we love them all), check out Lessons from the Lunchroom, a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists on childhood obesity and school lunch. If you just want the 10,000-foot view, the data shows that modern school lunch programs are actually helping kids eat healthier, so strengthening these programs is a smart investment.
  • For a more personal take on how school lunches are getting better all the time, check out this great piece on Betti Wiggins, the woman responsible for what public school students eat in Detroit, and her (successful!) efforts to get fresh fruit, green salad and whole grains on those plates.