Background
Share Our Strength began in the basement of a row house on Capitol Hill in 1984, in response to the ‘84-‘85 famine in Ethiopia. Moved by the famine, siblings Billy and Debbie Shore founded Share Our Strength to help combat global hunger and poverty.
In the beginning the organization focused on looking for long-term solutions to these seemingly insurmountable problems. During those early years, Share Our Strength focused almost exclusively on fundraising and providing grants to other non-profit organizations.
The Shores founded the organization with the belief that everyone has a strength to share in the global fight against hunger and poverty and that in these shared strengths lie sustainable solutions to large problems. Today the team focuses these strengths on making No Kid Hungry a reality in America.
Steps Taken Toward Ending Childhood Hunger
- Access– No Kid Hungry is working to end childhood hunger by connecting kids to effective nutrition programs like school breakfast and summer meals. This work is accomplished through the No Kid Hungry network, made up of private citizens, government officials, nonprofit organizations, business leaders and others providing innovative hunger solutions in their communities. These partners work together, implementing approaches that break down the barriers between kids and healthy food.
- Education– Through its Cooking Matters program, the No Kid Hungry campaign educates and empowers low-income families to stretch their food budgets so their kids be sure to have access to healthy meals at home. Cooking Matters participants learn to shop strategically, use nutrition information to make healthier food choices, and to cook delicious, affordable meals.
- Awareness– The No Kid Hungry campaign works to shine a national spotlight on the crisis of childhood hunger in America, creating a powerful movement of individuals committed to bold action.
Impact
Since summer 2011, No Kid Hungry efforts have helped bring more than 34 million additional meals to kids who need them, including 28 million additional breakfasts and 6 million summer meals. They have also reached kids through afterschool meal programs, making more than 1,100 strategic investments in innovative local hunger organizations, and empowering families to shop for and cook healthy meals on a budget through Cooking Matters.
Contributors
Sources
No Kid Hungry. ‘The Problem’. Accessed July 9, 2013. http://www.nokidhungry.org/problem/overview
No Kid Hungry. ‘The Impact’. Accessed July 9, 2013. http://impact.nokidhungry.org/