REALITY CHECK: Alarming USDA Stats about American hunger
More than 50 million Americans live in food insecure households
More than 16 million of those impacted by food insecurity are children
Over the past two years, I have had the pleasure of working alongside Walmart and the Walmart Foundation in their efforts to help children and families across the U.S. live better, healthier lives.
I first worked with Walmart in June 2012, helping them announce $20 million in grants to six national nonprofits that create opportunities for children to enjoy smarter, healthier and more productive summers. This work meant a great deal to me as I knew from my experience as a teacher that summer is a critical time for the continued health and development of our nation’s youth.
Working together with Walmart and its nonprofit partners, we were able to raise awareness of this critical time of year known as the “summer slump” and help 180,000 kids access nutrition, learning and employment programs in 350 communities nationwide.
I also joined Walmart’s April Fighting Hunger Together Campaign, during which we worked to tackle the issue of hunger in America. Hunger can have an extremely negative impact on the psychological and physical development of children.
Walmart continued the fight against this spring by donating $3 million in grants for hunger programs and generating more than 35 million meals for local Feeding America food banks and their partner agencies across the United States.
Walmart has just reached a historic milestone, being the first retailer to reach $1 billion in-cash and in-kind donations over the past year.
I am honored to have been a part of their mission to help people live better! This summer I’ll be working again with them to help ensure that once those school doors close thousands of our American kids will still be receiving healthy lunches.
Thanks a Billion Walmart!
Michele Borba
Follow me on twitter @MicheleBorba
Learn about the April Fighting Hunger Together Campaign: