Share Our Strength, a national organization working to end childhood hunger in America, released survey results indicating that teachers across America see children arriving at school hungry. Whether they work in urban, rural or suburban communities, teachers believe that hunger is a problem negatively affecting their student's ability to learn.
Hunger in America's Classrooms: Share Our Strength's Teachers Report, conducted by Lake Research Partners and funded by C&S Wholesale Grocers, shows that schools provide a critical safety net for kids when it comes to food and that teachers often are the first responders to hunger in our classrooms. Teachers say they see 62% of children who regularly come to school hungry each week because they are not getting enough to eat at home.
"No amount of creative lesson planning on my part, no amount of studying on my students' part can change the fact that if children don't have their basic nutritional needs satisfied, they cannot learn," said Christine Gottshall, a fifth-grade teacher at Orchard Green School in Roxbury, Mass.
Recently released figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that nearly 17 million U.S. children -- almost one in four kids -- face hunger today, which is an increase of more than 4 million children in one year.
