Children’s Hunger Alliance president and CEO Judy Mobley shares facts about child hunger.
Dean Brown | The Lima News
LIMA — Right now in Ohio there are over 400,000 children who don’t know where their next meal will come from or when it will come. Child hunger is a serious problem.
Judy Mobley of the Children’s Hunger Alliance said, “The work we do to try to feed the children that are in need across the state of Ohio, we could not do without partners. So our work is 110% collaboration with others.”
Veronica McLaurine, speaking on behalf of Soldiers of Honor, shared how a partnership helped feed hungry kids. Our Daily Bread helped Soldiers of Honor form a partnership with the Children’s Hunger Alliance. “It was a matter of a couple weeks, and we were en route to becoming a feeding site. The Children’s Hunger Alliance has brought needed assistance to the youth in the families that we serve.”
Tyler Smith, Director of Community Health at Mercy Health, announced that Mercy Health “will provide $40,000 over the next two years for the adopt-a-school program. We are really excited about that because it really aligns with our mission and goals, especially when we’re looking at community health and addressing food insecurity.”
There’s more people that have needed help than ever before, but as the cost of meals has gone up, the reimbursement from the federal government hasn’t necessarily followed suit.
“The biggest thing they (people) could do is support our work financially. We know that right now there are children across the state of Ohio that live in food insecure homes. They rely on schools for breakfast and lunch,” said Mobley. “Then, we help. After school programs and weekend meals are just two of the programs we support. They both take money. Lots of time people think that they don’t have a large amount to give and they shouldn’t bother, but the fact is everybody can help. Even small amounts. We put those together to make a difference in the lives of kids.”
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