On the way home with a bag full of nutritional fooD For many needy households, food often runs out before the next paycheck comes in. Childhood Food Solutions has targeted the end of child hunger in zip code 45225, which includes North Fairmount, Millvale and the Villages at Roll Hill (formerly the Fay Apartments).

After a combination of research and trial and error, CFS has found ways to get food to hungry children – by providing them with food sacks at school and, during summer break, by going street by street where the children live.

And the children do better in school. Studies show a 40 percent improvement in the number of children at or above the Ohio proficiency level for reading and math after two years of receiving food.

This could not happen without great teachers and administrators in the schools, but CFS believes that food is also a significant contributor to that improvement. CFS also has great partners in the community, especially at the Villages of Roll Hill Community Center and the Millvale Recreation Center.

Childhood Food Solutions targets food for the days when child hunger is at its worst – latemonth, non-school days.

Why “non-school days?” Because free school lunch gets a child through a school day, especially if he or she receives breakfast at school.

Why late in the month? When a household depends on government assistance, which arrives early in the month, child hunger becomes a risk later in the month. Most people agree it would be hard to feed a family on a monthly food-stamp allowance. But CFS discovered that some mothers who run short of food during the month, spend 90 percent of the that month’s food-stamp debit card within three days of receiving the benefit. Unfortunately, family hunger is a risk later in the month.

Spring break snacks CFS believes that hungry children become despondent and decide to “give up on school.” It makes sense when they cannot see the connection between the long-term promise of education and their immediate need for food. Why not check out employment opportunities with a drug dealer? Or why not look for a rich boyfriend who likes your body? These are real world options.

Reading proficiency is lower in schools where more than 50 percent of the students are needy and receive free or reducedprice school lunch.

Nearly 43 percent of needy children cannot read in fourth grade. This gave CFS the idea of providing food to needy children for days when they do not receive school meals.

CFS puts food in the hands of children who are at risk of hunger. CFS works with elementary schools and other resources near the school to pack groceries into sacks and place them into the hands of low-income children.

The food consists of items that will sustain children inexpensively – mostly complex carbohydrates, including breakfast foods, which always include vitamins. CFS food requires no refrigeration and minimal use of kitchen equipment. Adult supervision is required for only a few of the food sack items, such as macaroni and cheese.

Nearly 2,000 needy children received a sack of food for winter break 2010 which included: macaroni and cheese mix, peanut butter, Ramon noodles, pancake mix, oatmeal, cheese and crackers and graham crackers. Food sacks are assembled by volunteers.

CFS food sack programs als include: “Weekend and Short- Break Sacks.” Children leave school with a sack of food to carry them over the break. (The longer the break, the greater the amount of food.) For example, winter break is often a desperate time for children – with two late-month weeks of potential hunger.

CFS’ Summer Food Program reaches the children where they live by taking food sacks on a school bus, street by street, honking, and stopping to allow local volunteers to jump out and hold up the sacks of food. When one child comes out to receive a sack, others, who had been watching from their homes, pour out to receive sacks of food. Those who might doubt the existence of child hunger in Cincinnati only have to witness the excited faces of children as they receive simple sacks of food. It takes hundreds of volunteers giving thousands of hours to help these food-insecure children. Recent volunteers have included second graders who held a bake sale to raise money for food, junior high students who packed 800 sacks in an afternoon, and moms and grandmothers of the children who receive the food sacks. Clark Montessori High School’s multiple handicap class has packed tens of thousands of food sacks as part of their pre-vocational curriculum – a real win-win solution.

If you would like to volunteer to pack food sacks this summer, deliver food, or help with fund raising, you can contact Tony Fairhead at tony@childhodfoodsolutions.org or visit www.kidsfed.org. Your help and ideas are welcomed.