Today 70% of Brevard County Public elementary school students – more than 25,000 children – qualify for free or reduced meals with many of them at risk of childhood hunger and malnutrition because of limited household income.

When we discuss the risk of childhood hunger, we rely on a widely accepted measure: participation in the public school lunch program. Across the country, government agencies and nonprofit organizations recognize this program as a key indicator of hunger risk and poverty within a community.

Childhood hunger has serious and long-lasting consequences. It can weaken a child’s immune system, make it harder to focus and learn in the classroom, and affect behavior and information retention. Children who experience hunger are sick more often and consistently perform at lower academic levels.

Hunger doesn’t end when the school bell rings on Friday afternoon. Many children continue to face hunger on weekends and during school breaks – times when access to reliable meals disappears. Proper nutrition is essential to building a strong foundation for learning and long-term academic success.

The Children’s Hunger Project addresses this critical gap by providing weekend meals and combating childhood hunger and malnutrition throughout the school year. Teachers and school administrators, who work closely with our children every day, see firsthand the impact weekend hunger has on their students.

Under-nutrition, combined with the environmental stresses of poverty, can permanently hinder physical growth, brain development, and cognitive functioning. The longer a child’s nutritional, emotional, and educational needs go unmet, the greater the risk of lifelong cognitive impairment. Research consistently shows that economically disadvantaged children who attend school hungry perform significantly below their non-hungry peers on standardized tests.

While many of us generously support efforts to feed children in other countries, it is time to confront childhood hunger in our own backyard. The need is local, urgent, and solvable.

By addressing childhood hunger, The Children’s Hunger Project helps create measurable, positive outcomes for children, including:

• Improved school attendance
• Higher test scores
• Stronger reading skills
• More positive classroom behavior
• Better overall health

Children are hungry on the weekends – and food is the foundation for success in school.