While the everyday challenges the students at Newtown High School may face are not getting an “A” on a test, or struggling to complete homework every night after they return home late from sports practice or music rehearsals, there are other people around the country whose struggles are much different.
Although there is minimal exposure to these issues, students should be aware of the fact that there are people in our country, even here in Connecticut, without homes, without jobs, or even without enough money to buy clothes and other necessities.
Across the country, hunger is becoming harder and harder to put an end to, and in order to change this, students at NHS must become aware and take action to solve the problems affecting our country every day.
The word hunger is used every day in the lives of students at NHS, wishing to have first lunch and feeling “starved” by the time the bell for third lunch rings. But the definition of hunger goes beyond just wanting a snack, or wanting to eat lunch after skipping breakfast one morning.
Hunger is defined as “the uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food”. This definition is used to refer to a large population of people who simply don’t have enough money to buy food to eat every day.
It is known that Connecticut is one of the richest states in America, yet there are still residents who cannot make ends meet and may not know where their next meal is coming from. In a study in 2012, by the Food Research and Action Center, it was reported that more than fourteen percent of households in Connecticut didn’t have enough money to buy the food they needed.
“We [The Connecticut Food Bank] serve the more than 300,000 people in six Connecticut counties who struggle with hunger. In Connecticut, nearly half a million people are hungry. One in five children are food insecure. And nearly 16% of people over the age of 60 are food insecure,” Chief Operating Officer of the Connecticut Food Bank, Paul O’Leary said.
In another study shows that with a seventy percent increase from 2006, around 11% of Connecticut residents are food insecure, which means that they don’t have have reliable access to food at all times. Additionally, one in seven people struggle with hunger in Connecticut. These numbers are high for a small population and are increasing over the years.
Although overall these statistics are very problematic for those in Connecticut, something that has gained a lot of focus over the years is the numbers related to childhood hunger. There are some children, even those who go to school, who struggle every day with their families to find food to eat and money to get it from.
There are even some students who rely on their schools for food, and use the cafeterias for breakfast and lunch, but when the weekend comes, there may be some students who have gone from Friday night until Monday morning without any food.
Here at NHS, there have been organizations and clubs to help prevent hunger and bring food to those in need. The culinary teachers, Lori Hoagland and Brian Neumeyer have partnered with CT Food Banks to prepare foods that will be given to local shelters and other organizations.
Three years ago, they created a non-profit organization called Feeding the Need, CT. The CT Food Banks have now begun to deliver foods to the high school where the advanced culinary students can turn these perishable and non-perishable foods into meals delivered to various shelters around the state. Since this non-profit’s inception, over 28,000 meals have been prepared by those involved in culinary.
There is also a club at the high school called “Baking Beyond Boundaries”. In this club, run by junior Rachel Goldman and sophomore Liza Tananbaum, the students meet after school and create baked delicacies to be delivered to shelters around the state.
These great steps to preventing hunger have helped, but it’s still an issue here in Connecticut and all around America.
“In regards to stopping hunger, the answer to that is education. It is super important for us all to be informed of the prevalence of hunger in our communities, country and the world. Knowledge is power,” Hoagland said.
So the students who are more privileged and have the money to spend everyday on food and other necessities must take the time with the money and food they have to spare to help those in need. An act of kindness with a donation like this could help another person so much, and maybe even save their life.