I teach hungry children every day.

You have likely seen the numbers:

• 1 in 4 children are hungry in Los Angeles County.
• 62% of CalFresh participants in Los Angeles County are children.
• Two-thirds of teachers in K-8 schools report that children regularly come to their class hungry.

I am a LAUSD teacher. Every day, I see children walk into my classroom who are hungry. My children know that I always keep fresh fruit or calorie-dense protein bars in my desk to give them when they are hungry, but what I can do is simply not enough. It will take a caring community coming together to end hunger among LA’s children.

I know that when my children are hungry they lack energy or enthusiasm to learn, and sometimes they can even be disruptive, making it difficult for anyone to learn. Often, they are too embarrassed to admit that they are hungry. Did you know that numerous academic studies document that school children who are hungry now will continue to have learning and discipline problems as they grow older?

This is insane in a city as wealthy as ours is. It makes me angry how we choose to treat our children, but I refuse to give up on them. That is one reason I choose to teach. It is also why I choose to support the Food Bank.

The Food Bank runs excellent programs to end child hunger in Los Angeles. With our partner agencies that cover virtually every neighborhood in our vast county, the Food Bank supports school breakfast programs, summer lunch programs, BackPack programs for weekends, after-school meals, nutrition education for parents, community food pantries and much more. Still, there are tens of thousands of children we have not reached. We have to do more.

When I came to Los Angeles to teach high school, I thought, naively, that hungry children were a tragedy that other countries had to deal with. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Now I see hunger in the eyes and in the spirits of my children. I know that together we can end child hunger in Los Angeles. However, we must give now and we must give generously to make this goal a reality.

Make your tax-deductible gift today.

Alexia
LAUSD Teacher

P.S. A gift to the Food Bank will make a massive difference in the lives of thousands of your neighbors, including hungry children in your community. We know that we must do more. We also know that we need you if we are to reach more children. Consider becoming a monthly donor and support the Food Bank all year long. Your monthly gift of $23 allows us to feed a hungry child nutritious meals for a year.