Fight Childhood Hunger

Update: URGENT U.S. House of Representatives could vote soon on a bill that would roll back years of positive steps toward eliminating childhood hunger in the U.S. Your voice makes a difference and now is the time to act!

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The ELCA is committed to fighting childhood hunger. That commitment, rooted in our baptismal call to care for our neighbors in need, is why we as a church are advocating for a strong renewal of the Child Nutrition Programs critical to the health and wellbeing of children and families throughout our nation.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote soon on the “Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016, (H.R. 5003),” that rolls back many years of successes in feeding millions of hungry children. This legislation, if passed, would take away access to healthy nutritious breakfasts and lunches they need to learn and grow.

Some of the worst provisions of this legislation would:

Reduce the number of schools eligible to implement community eligibility (high poverty schools which provide free meals for all of their students).
Raise barriers and more red tape to the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.
Roll back science-based nutrition standards for schools
Create additional requirements for schools and low-income families, jeopardizing access to school meals for thousands of students.
Create a risky “block grant” project that would eventually cap assistance funding and erode the value of already scarce resources

Our nation’s Child Nutrition programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), which provides nutritious food, education, and access to health care for millions of low-income new mothers and infants; as well as the National School Lunch Program and the Summer Food Service Program, both of which support millions of low-income children so they are able to have access to healthy food throughout the year.