Happy Election Day! Did everyone get out and vote? I sure hope so! It’s a gorgeous day in Austin, TX, so you really have no excuse.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a fundraiser at Second Bar and Kitchen . You’ve seen it. The gorgeous restaurant that lives at the bottom of the Austinonian. It’s only one of my favorite places to eat in Austin.
They hosted a mouthwatering event for No Kid Hungry. I am going to show you all the beautiful food pictures from the event, but more importantly, juxtapose those with the mission of this organization. I hope you will see how so many wonderful restaurants and chefs came together to support this cause.
In the spirit of America and with this month being Thanksgiving and all, I want to share with you something you might not know about. Child hunger right here in the United States. That’s right, 1 in 5 kids in the United States lives with hunger.
What does that mean? Don’t we have an obesity epidemic? Don’t those kids get fed at school? Let me break it down for you.
1 in 5, or 16 million kids in the US, live with food insecurity. Meaning, yes, maybe they get a free or reduced lunch at school. But they might not get to eat dinner or breakfast. Or imagine not having any food at home on the weekends or during summertime.
Why should you care? Because those hungry kids aren’t doing well in school and are more likely to get sick and miss even more school. And guess what? Once those kids get behind, the likelihood of them getting back on track isn’t good. Then they probably won’t finish high school, more or less college. Then they won’t be able to feed their children and the cycle continues. All that is going to cost you money, and your kids money, in taxes down the line as these families will continue to rely on government programs to survive.
So what can you do? Educate yourself, get involved, donate your time or money, and spread the word! For more
information, click here to learn more about No Kid Hungry.
Ok Natalie, that’s nice and all, but I live in Austin. I don’t see hungry kids. This doesn’t really, really effect me.
Yes it does. I volunteer with the Junior League of Austin Food In Tummies program. There are kids living right down off Riverside that are hungry. Their dads might work construction downtown. Their moms might be working part time for minimum wage making your breakfast tacos each morning. That’s why you should care. Their families are intertwined in our community and communities all over the US.
Each week the Junior League of Austin packs bags of food for over 1700 kids so they have food to eat on the weekends. Those kids live right here in Austin.
I hope this spirit of giving bug bites you this holiday season. Think about what you can do to make Austin a No Kid Hungry city!
Leave a Reply