There are hungry people in every neighborhood and your lunch ladies know where to find them

In 1984, Billy and Debby Shore founded Share our Strength in response to famine in Ethiopia, a mission that soon expanded to ending hunger in America. Their singular focus on hunger deepened our collective consciousness and involved elected officials, the culinary industry, advocates, and low-income communities in securing solutions. They launched No Kid Hungry, a campaign that connects families, many of whom are working people of color with low wage jobs, to public resources, from WIC to SNAP. As Jillien Meier, Director of Partnerships & Campaign Strategy explains, ending hunger is complex and nuanced. It requires understand the byzantine rules and myriad of systems involved in accessing food, pressing Congress to reauthorize and improve the Farm Bill and Children Nutrition Act, and listening to directly impacted families with lived experience. Jillien reminds us that while No Kid Hungry has always held that hunger is a non-partisan issue, during the pandemic it became decidedly political. Flexibility to USDA programs granted during the pandemic enabled providers to bring food to children when schools were shut down. The next step is to make these changes permanent and fully commit to what is possible.