Weekend Hunger Instructions for Students
Suck on a stone
Scientifically proven to
Make you less hungry
Collect ketchup packets
At restaurants where
They still leave them out
No one suspects when
You steal an onion
With salt, it’s dinner
Imagine the cafeteria
The realer you make it
The more calories
Dumpster diving is
Deadly on hot days
Don’t do it, the nurse says
The weight of weekend
Hunger is a backpack
We make you carry
–Ticky Kennedy
Reclusive Poet in Residence
SchoolNewsToday.com
NOTE
Backpack Programs that provide students facing hunger and food insecurity with food to take home over the weekend have been shown to increase attendance and improve test scores, especially for the youngest and most vulnerable children.
But Backpack Programs also burden children with poverty stigma, undermine parental authority and sometimes provide poor nutritional options. In addition, Backpack Programs may prevent much-needed reforms that directly address poverty and hunger: increasing wages and supporting parents.
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**Starred Comment**
BBP Volunteer
We need destigmatized ways to deliver care, like HopeLoop, where kids can order the food they need instead of being subjects of random charity. Some of those weekend backpacks are the only calories they get for the 68 hours between school lunch Friday and Monday. But a lot of it gets tossed or eaten instead of more nutritious food parents want their kids to eat. It would be more efficient if families in need could order the groceries they need online without creating a theater of charity that makes kids feel bad about themselves and their families.
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