In these tough economic times, millions of children need access to nutritious after school meals, snacks, and dinners. According to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) “Approximately 17 percent of American children live in households defined as food insecure, that is, the families face difficulty providing enough food for all its members due to a lack of resources. "For African American and Latino children, the percentages are higher: 22 percent and 20 percent respectively" (FRAC, 2009).

And if these conditions weren't bad enough, they actually grow worse by the day. With the economy slumping, a recent CNN poll found that Americans are spending less on groceries and are likely to shift to cheaper, poorer quality food, in order to reduce spending. For low income families facing food cost increases in the last year, such as a rise between 12 and 17 percent for milk, bread, cheese, rice, pasta, beans, and peas and a 25 percent increase for eggs. The hunger crisis affecting these children and contributing to the issue of food insecurity is becoming ever more acute.

Not surprisingly, food insecure children are, in the early grades, also more likely to have academic problems, particularly in reading and arithmetic. A longitudinal study found that food insecurity significantly lowers children's test scores for word identification, passage comprehension, and arithmetic tests. Other studies show similar outcomes. Following a FRAC sample of 21,000 nationally representative children from kindergarten through 3rd grade, researchers found that throughout these grades children in food insecure families at kindergarten made smaller gains in mathematics and reading than did children in food secure families.

Food insecurity need not start at the beginning of a child's life for its severe effects to emerge. Research on children who began kindergarten in food secure homes and at that time were doing well academically; found that when the children began experiencing food insecurity in later grades, their reading development slowed in contrast to children whose homes remained food secure. Some good news is that, conversely, a change from food insecurity to food security can bring concomitant improvements. The previously mentioned study also found that poor reading performance for food insecure children in the beginning grades was reversed if the household became food secure by 3rd grade.

For these reasons, Our Daily Bread Community Outreach Services (ODBCOS) is committed to addressing food insecurity issues of at-risk, homeless, low income, and needy children. In doing so, ODBCOS will use its food bank to engage in the food box distribution program (every Saturday morning). These food boxes are full of nutrition and daily snacks that are much needed by the food insecure children and their families of the demographic previously mentioned. Consequently, the health, nutrition, and safety of these at-risk children children will drastically improve as a result of ODBCOS providing for their basic needs. Our Daily Bread Community Outreach Services will provide food, compassion, and support to children in need, regardless of race, origin, religion or gender.