Media are invited to attend a 2:30 news conference today when Mayor Carl Brewer will announce a new partnership with the Kansas Food Bank and local schools regarding child hunger. The news conference will be held at the Kansas Food Bank Warehouse, 1919 E. Douglas.
The announcement is in conjunction with National Hunger Action Month. Sponsored by Feeding America, National Hunger Action Month is a nationwide call-to-action to end hunger in America. In Wichita, the initiative is marked by a city-wide campaign to end child hunger. The Kansas Food Bank recently launched www.NoMoreHungryKids.org, which provides ways for people to give time, money and voice to the cause of reducing child hunger, which has increased significantly since the downturn in the economy last fall.
Feeding America estimates that 1 in 8 Americans do not have dependable, consistent access to enough nutritious food to maintain good health. Recent hunger studies have also shown about 1 in 20 Kansas children regularly do not get enough food. That translates to about 7,000 hungry children in Wichita – a number that does not include the hundreds, if not thousands, more affected by chronic hunger since the sharp downturn in the economy a year ago, said Polly Basore of the Kansas Food Bank.
Since April 2008, Wichita unemployment has more than tripled, resulting in more than 32,000 area people without jobs. “With more parents out of work, more families are understandably struggling between paying bills and having enough food for their families,” said Brian Walker, CEO of the Kansas Food Bank.
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