How we help kids with food insecurity eat over weekends

Fueled By Kids provides over 400 students who qualify for free breakfast and lunch under the National School Lunch Program with food over the weekend.

There are 67 hours between when these students receive lunch on Friday afternoon and when they receive breakfast on Monday morning. The unfortunate reality for many of these students is that they do not have a guaranteed source of food during these 67 hours.

We provide them with bags on Friday afternoons when they leave school for the weekend that contain enough food to replace the meals provided by the school during the week.

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How Fueled By Kids Helps

Fueled By Kids provides students who qualify for free breakfast and lunch under the National School Lunch Program with food over the weekend.

We provide them with bags on Friday afternoons when they leave school for the weekend that contain enough food to replace the meals provided by the school during the week.

GET INVOLVED

DONATE

The Effect of Food Insecurity on Children

Food Insecurity among children is a national issue and while New Hampshire has the sixth lowest rate of food insecurity nationally, it has devastating affects on the children who suffer from it.

Not having proper nutrition can affect the child’s growth and development; these children often have increased hospitalizations, iron deficiency, and overall worse health. But beyond the physical food insecurity can affect their behavior and success in school with an increase in disorders like aggression, anxiety, and ADD.

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In 2015, more than 1 in 6 U.S. children (17 percent) lived in households that were
food-insecure at some point during the year, and 0.7 percent experienced the most severe level of need, where food intake is reduced and regular eating patterns are disrupted.

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15.7 million children live in households that lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis. As a result, they struggle with hunger at some time during the year.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finds that 49 million Americans, or one in six, lacked the resources to eat sufficient, regular meals and the number is increasing.

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What People Are Saying

As a teenager who has been fortunate enough to always have a guaranteed supply of food, being made aware of the locality of this phenomenon was shocking. I have always been interested in the field of education, so it was a blessing when my best friend informed me of not only this opportunity to educate other teenagers about how they can help but to physically go in and deliver food as well. Everyone involved from kids to teachers to administrators are always so grateful; this program really does change lives.
Isabell Amherst, NH
Food insecurity was never an issue for me or my family. While I knew some children struggled with this, I never thought about how I could help and make a difference. Fueled By Kids is a great organization that is actively trying to make a difference in the lives of local children.
Oliver Concord, NH

Letter from Hannah

Can you imagine being in elementary school and not having enough food to eat? We hope you can join us for a really fun day that has a direct benefit to kids in Manchester who count on our help each week!

We began providing 65 bags a week for children at one school but have now grown to serve almost 400 children each week at 7 schools! Our amazing growth has been the product of school guidance counselors and principals communicating with each other about the great results their kids have experienced and reaching out to us to help more children from new schools. We have amazing volunteers who help us to pack and deliver the bags each week but the most difficult part about Fueled By Kids is finding the money to buy the food each week.

There are always more children right here in Manchester, NH that could benefit from our help, and we don’t want to say no to any of them while continuing to feed the children we have already committed to help for the year. We are inviting you so that we can continue on our mission to end childhood food insecurity. We hope to be able to help even more children next year but we cannot do it without your support. Each bag we deliver on Fridays costs about $5, which means each child we feed costs about $200 per year. For this school year alone, we will have delivered over 13,500 bags of food! Please come to our event so that we can continue on our mission to end childhood food insecurity, we cannot do it without your support!

I can’t wait to see you there!

– Hannah