Nearly 17 million children in America—that’s almost one in four—face hunger. We're not talking about craving a midnight snack, or being served chicken when they really want a hamburger. This is real hunger, like many of us have never experienced. And it’s likely that these children will endure lifelong consequences as a result of having limited access to nutritious foods. In fact, children who face hunger more likely to suffer:
- Weaker immune systems
- More stomachaches
- Headaches
- Colds
- Ear infections
- Fatigue
- More hospitalizations
- Behavioral difficulties
- Impaired performance in school-academically, athletically and socially
- A whole host of other lifelong consequences
The need in our state is great: 160,000 children are not getting the food they need, and Arkansas has the highest percentage of hungry children of any state in the country. These are children that we might see every day. It's hard for many of us to understand this type of hunger, but it faces children in our community every day. The Junior Auxiliary of Saline County works with local organizations to identify children who might not have appropriate nutrition over school breaks. These children participate in the free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch programs at school, but what do they do when school is out for the day? Or for a week? We work with these organizations to provide these children with backpacks full of healthy, kid-friendly foods that they can prepare themselves.
Your support allows us to offer programs like these to the children of Saline County. Please consider donating to the Junior Auxiliary of Benton today. If you know of a child in need, please click on the "Contact" tab above and let us know how we can help.