National Hunger Action Month, sponsored by Feeding America, is a nationwide call-to-action to end hunger in America. In Wichita, it is being marked by a city-wide campaign to end child hunger. The Kansas Food Bank recently launched NoMoreHungryKids.org, a new website that 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.

Mayor Brewer knows what it’s like to be hungry. He recalls growing up in Wichita, the eldest of six children, eating bread and mustard sandwiches and mowing lawns to get a couple of dollars so his younger siblings could eat. “Everybody can make small sacrifices to do something to help,” Brewer said. “Go without your Value Meal for a day, and let those five dollars buy some food for hungry kids.”

The goal of the NoMoreHungryKids.org website is to engage the Wichita community in helping hungry children by encouraging individuals and organizations to sponsor each of the 63 schools now participating in the Kansas Food Bank’s Food4Kids back pack program. To backpack program is operated in cooperation with Wichita public schools. At the end of last year, more than 1,200 children believed to be going without food during the weekends received food each Friday to take home in their backpacks.

“We thank Mayor Brewer for stepping up on behalf of Wichita’s thousands of hungry children,” said Polly Basore, Kansas Food Bank community relations director. “Though we regret that he – or any child – ever went without meals, we are thankful his experience drives him to lead the community on this issue,” Basore said.

The mayor was joined in making his announcement by a new face at the Kansas Food Bank, “Phil The Backpack,” the mascot of the Food4Kids backpack program. The 6-ft.-tall orange smiling backpack, overflowing with food, represents the joy and abundance the program brings every week to children who might otherwise go without.

About the Kansas Food Bank

Operating since 1984, The Kansas Food Bank is today the primary source of food for more than 500 hunger-relief partners in Kansas, distributing food to more than 30,000 people a week through food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, plus another 5,000 children through the Food4Kids program. More than 7.7 million pounds of food were distributed through the Food Bank’s warehouse last year. For more information, visit www.ksfoodbank.org and www.NoMoreHungryKids.org or www.wichita.gov.

About Feeding America

As the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, Feeding America members supply food to more than 25 million Americans each year, including 9 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks support 63,000 agencies that address hunger in all of its forms. For more information on how you can fight hunger in your community and across the country, visit www.feedingamerica.org.

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