TAMPA, Fla. — The face of hunger comes in many forms, but there are researchers and organizations working hard to find strategic solutions to the problem.
"In the Tampa Bay Region, we know that one out of every four kids are struggling to find meals when they're out of school,” said Clarissa Rain, the Assistant Director of Community Programs at Feeding Tampa Bay.
Rain focuses on making sure children and their families have food on the table.
Feeding Tampa Bay teamed up with the University of South Florida for their Feed-A-Bull Pantry since it started in 2015. It’s a partnership that’s proven successful.
"The backpack study was one of the first studies we did in partnership with USF, and so the idea behind our backpacks, where we were sending food home with children over the weekend, and we found through that study that the food wasn’t always nutritious,” said Rain. “We weren’t really meeting our goal of serving the kid over the weekend because a child was taking the food home, and they were sharing it with mom and dad and brother and sister.”
From that study, Rain said they really changed into their school pantry program.
“We've got about 74 school pantries in our service area, and so far this year, they've distributed about 1.1 million meals this school year alone,” said Rain.
Dr. David Himmelgreen, a USF professor and the Director of the Center for the Advancement of Food Security and Healthy Communities, has been working with Feeding Tampa Bay for several years, focusing on strategic ways to approach ending hunger.
“We know food insecurity, chronic food insecurity is associated with poor health. So it really is kind of, you want to nip it in the bud and try to address it because it's not only providing people with food but hopefully providing them with resources so they can better manage their health,” said Dr. Himmelgreen.
Rain said that making sure children have access to nutrition means their future is limitless.
“By making sure that their village has food, that their families and those that they are getting support from have food means that that child is that much more supported so that they're able to grow up and be what they want to be,” said Rain.
