What is childhood
food insecurity?
Children go hungry in the Cincinnati area.
In Cincinnati, about 22,000 public school students receive free school lunch because of low family income. But school only accounts for 178 days a year. Childhood Food Solutions, starting with one zip code, is providing food for the other 187 days a year.
Kids are Fed on Weekends
Childhood Food Solutions (CFS) provides weekend sacks of food to go home with schoolchildren on Fridays — they provide 700-1,000 calories a day — a food safety net — for under $1.00 a day.
Assembling sacks at Fay Apartments
Here’s what kids do with their food:
- One girl eats the fruit item right away. She fixes ramen noodles in the microwave on Saturday. Cheese crackers are saved for when there is not enough food.
- A boy says he hides his food in his backpack because his mother’s boyfriend would eat it. He reports that his food “keeps his belly from hurting.”
- A note said "Thank you for giving this food for my mom and my brother and me."
Kids are Fed during Winter Break and Spring Break
Food sacks went home with kids the day before Spring Break
Contents of Spring Break Sack
Kids are Fed during Summer Vacation
These children received food in the Summer Neighborhood Distribution Program
During summer vacation, the most reliable way to get food to schoolchildren is to take it into the neighborhoods where they live. Last summer CFS distributed food sacks through their partnerships with the Fay Apartments and the Millvale Recreation Center – at over 40 distribution points. Distribution locations were selected to be within view of the homes of almost all students who normally receive weekend sacks.
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© 2008-2011 Childhood Food Solutions
Childhood Food Solutions is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit, 2573 Saint Leo Place, Cincinnait, Ohio 45225