Child Nutrition Programs
Donations
The need to expand our Child Nutrition Programs grows every year, sometimes every semester. If you would like to help provide nutritious food over the weekend and/or healthy after-school snacks to children in our service area, think about donating to one of our Child Nutrition Programs.
- $3.80 a week provides a backpack full of nutritious food to one child over the weekend
- $5.00 provides a healthy after-school snack 5 days a week to one child
Every child should have the opportunity to grow up with a chance to succeed. The Community Food Bank has de
veloped a multifaceted approach to address the undernourishment of children and childhood food insecurity through the Child Nutrition Programs: Kid’s Club ~ Adventures in Nutrition, Snak Paks for Kids® and Summer Meals.
Today research shows a strong relationship among children’s overall health, including their nutrition, their cognitive development and social environment. Research also indicates that children, who experience hunger or undernourishment, no matter how minor or short-term, are likely to experience changes in their behavior, school performance and cognitive development.
Undernourishment occurs when a person does not consume sufficient essential nutrients. It leads a person to experience hunger. Unlike malnourishment, which occurs in developing countries, children in the United States tend to experience mild-to-moderate undernourishment.
Undernourishment limits a child’s ability to learn. When children are not receiving sufficient nutrients their bodies conserve the energy from the food they are eating. The conserved energy is distributed first to maintain vital organ function, second growth and third social activity and cognitive development.
Children who are undernourished are more likely to be sick and absent from school. If they are experiencing chronic undernourishment, lack of learning and education will affect their productiveness and potential as adults.
Children who experience undernourishment also experience shorter attention spans; less motivation, attentiveness, and emotional expression; less social interactions; reduced activity levels and curiosity.
Studies also indicate a direct relationship between children who are undernourished and live in a household that is food insecure or the household income is at or below the Federal Poverty Level.
- The data shows almost 1 in 4 (23.6%) Arizona children aged 18 and under lived in poverty in 2009.
- For comparison, 26.0% of children in Pima County lived in poverty in 2009.
- This new poverty level resulted in Arizona being second only to Mississippi for the number of individuals living poverty.
* Resource: U.S. Census Data: 2009
In the United States, more than 13 million children under 18 years of age are food insecure and unable to consistently access adequate amounts of nutritious food necessary for a healthy life.
- In Arizona, 408,201, or 24.2%, of children under 18 are food insecure.
- Arizona ranks 3rd highest rate in the country in the proportion of children who are food insecure.
* Resource: Child Food Insecurity in the United States: 2006-2008
Below are links to detailed breakdowns of each of our three Child Nutrition Programs.
Kids’ Club – Adventures in Nutrition
Questions? For more information please contact Debra Leffler, Child Nutrition Programs Coordinator, at (520) 622-0525 ext. 261 or dleffler@communityfoodbank.org.
Volunteers
If you would like to volunteer with the Child Nutrition Programs please click here for more information.
Resources
1. The Link between Nutrition and Cognitive Development in Children
2. Child Food Insecurity in the United States: 2006-2008
3. USDA: Food Insecurity in Households with Children, Prevalence, Severity, and Household Characteristics
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB56/
4. Feeding America: Child Hunger Facts
http://feedingamerica.org/faces-of-hunger/hunger-101/child-hunger-facts.aspx
5. Arizona Association of Food Banks
