We don't lack money for this, we just lack a process to make it happen.  We are paying farmers to not grow crops.  We should be encouraging farmers to grow as much as they can, we should purchase the excess crops to guarantee fair prices for the farmers and then distibute this excess directly to the hungry families.  By paying farmers not to grow crops, we get nothing for our money.  We need to use this money in a way that will end hunger in America and maybe even end it worlwide.  

Make a requirement. . to each graduate from high school, In order for them to obtain their final diploma, to show that they have adopted and assisted a poor family in obtaining the help necessary to get food and the existing government help for a normal life. 
Some of these families do not have access to the Internet and they do not know what programs are out there to help them.
Adopt a family and bring them the help necessary to take advantage of assistance programs and not be forgotten.

Regarding the above post, I just don't see requiring high school students to assist poor families as a viable option.  For one thing, there are many high school students who, themselves, come from low-income homes.  From my experiences with people, it's hard to convince people who perceive themselves at an economic disadvantage to take such an active role in assisting other economically disadvantaged families.  This may actually end up doing more to decrease high school graduation among the impoverished than decrease hunger.

Rather, what seems to be neccesary is to automatically enroll families in programs like the food stamps program if their tax documentation indicates that they qualify.  The "food stamps" should be in the form of a low-profile debit card to reduce stigma, with coverage continued for five years after the participant no longer qualifies.

There must be strong political will. Legislators at all levels have to take this on as a priority.  You almost have to shame them with real numbers in order to get them to look up from the millions of other issues that vie for their attention.

Linking food insecurity to school readiness, to prison complex system, to educational outcomes is what gets attention.  It must be the underlying issue from where all other issues start.

If you are hungary, you cannot sit in class. If you cannot focus in school , you are not learning. If you are not learning, you feel hopeless and will undoubtly fall in with the wrong crowd. See we have to follow along to the beginning.

I am creating ideas daily about what we can do to make serious changes for ourselves and not necessarily with government help and more spending. 

The biggest part of this plan will have to include volunteer work.  The idea above about requirements for receiving a highschool diploma are on the right track.  I suggest mandatory volunteer hours as well as an extension in senior year or GED to include standard economics, career research, character, etc.

We should also consider the power of giving a small tax break to individuals with certain levels of volunteer service.

On hunger... we can correct a portion of this problem utilizing 'waste' a term used by some for perfectly edible food.  I only wish I had data on the amount of food thrown out each day.  Food I would eat and serve proudly to my family.  

As I attempt to pull this off with or without gov't help, I plan to reason with food retailers and their food sources to donate what they consider waste.  Not for resell but to feed the hungry.  I witnessed first-hand as a part-time produce stocker in a well-known grocer, throwing out perfectly edible food ... some tossed because of 'best before dates'  in which they wrote off the very date on the package.  Anything blemished or not perfect looking.  Full bins of pumkins within 1 week of Halloween.

What disturbed me most is this food thrown into a hole in a wall into a trash compactor wedged inside of the building.  Hungry people desperate enough to climb into a trash dumpster can't even get to it. 

Retailers/Grocers are responsible for heavy produce, bakery, and milk waste.  Discontinued items that don't sale even with huge markdowns, Seasonal or Holiday Items that don't sale after discount, Damaged canned food, boxed foods, damaged packaging on most items, etc. 

These things are happening in groceries within walking distance of shelters, soup kitchens, community service centers etc and it's ridiculous.  We are all guilty of waste but if we focus on as many areas as possible to recycle our waste we will have done our country a small but meaningful justice. 

We have to teach our children and make them proactive in this arena.  It's their world for more years to come than it is ours.  Let's show them what they need to do. 

We have got to utilize this waste. 

Grocer/Retailer waste
Manufacturing waste
Building supply waste
Natural Resource waste
Energy waste

               and most of all wasting time activating our youth.  They are the most precious resources we have and they want to be empowered to help.  They want direction. 

Please visit my myspace and watch this unfold.  

www.myspace.com/youthsmomentum

 

Here are four other actions you can take to end hunger in America on endhomelessness.change.org:

http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/5_actions_in_5_minutes_to_end_hunger

I find your page here a little confusing on just which button to push to VOTE  could somebody work on that please

yes of course let's work on child hunger. The US is way behind in all humantarian things compare to other wealthy countries. Corporations rule the earth..not Goverments.

Jerry Holt

I like the idea but am tired of our country only taking care of the kids. How about us old folks we eat also. If this country quit spending all its money on pork barrel type projects we could all be well off.

The answer to ending hunger ... child hunger, elder hunger, ordinary person hunger ... is not more programs.  They're a stopgap. 

The answer to ending hunger is to end poverty.  Yes, it CAN be done.  The cause of poverty was well known to our great grandparents.  Henry George's landmark book on the subject sold over 6 million copies between 1880 and 1900. It is called "Progress & Poverty" and it lays out why we have poverty, and how to abolish it.  Eradicate it.  End it.    The questions haven't changed. The answers are still just as important.

You can read P&P online at http://www.henrygeorge.org/ or listen to it at http://www.hgchicago.org/audio (both in a modern abridgment).  The unabridged is online at http://www.schalkenbach.org/ and you can buy both at Amazon or Schalkenbach.

You can read some of Henry George's speeches at http://www.wealthandwant.com/; they crystallize his ideas (and were what first caught my attention).

End poverty.  Ending its concommitants, including hunger, will follow, without another program.  Educate yourself and your representatives!

I love hearing about all everyone passionate about ending hunger in America. I agree with Connie, the answer comes in using underutilized resources (NOT in the form of dollars). I volunteered for an AMAZING nonprofit in college, The Campus Kitchens Project, that DOES EXACTLY THIS! Check it out!  
www.campuskitchens.org

I do not support government-required donations or voluntary time.  I do agree that things need to be done, but it should be left to the free will of the American people, not regulated and mandatory according to our governemnt.  See how many people have voted and commented for good causes to end hunger?  These people can use their free will to either donate money or time to the appropriate causes they see fit to donate to.

Morgan,

As one of my heroes put it in a slightly different context, an "A" in charity and an "F" in justice don't work out to a "C".   Is hunger just?  Do we have a responsibility to other people's children?   Do we have a responsibility to create a society in which no one goes hungry, or is it really okay for some to have plenty and others to have none, even if they are of an age when we don't expect them to fend for themselves?

I'm not saying another program is called for.  I seek a society with no victims, no hungry people, and I am pretty sure that is going to require systemic reform -- tearing poverty out by the roots. Extirpate poverty!  Eradicate poverty!

It's up to the lame parents of America's children to step up and feed their children more responcibly. Spend thier money more effectively and work with more production and quality if they plan to make it in the coming years. Will you stop whining like pups and get brave enough to pee in the tall grass? And stop hurting Americas future in your own homes. Become more active in the education of your children to end this cycle of poverty you strive to curse your children with. Stop blaming the government and take a look at the ?man? in the mirror.

I eat one square a day so my baby can eat three with healthy snacks. Our government provides my daughter with the finest organic food on the stores shelves. I have extra food at the end of the month. We are both happy and healthy and we thank the Uncle Sam for providing so much. I refuse to spend food money on packages that pollute my childrens environment. I take the time to cook meals every day instead of buying boxes of bags and trays with scarce nutritional value. How could anybody in America allow a child to go hungry when we have such vast resources at our fingertips.

I vote yes for a resurgence of Victory Garderns starting with the White House! Due to the crisis of inter-city fresh food access the community food service movement is gaining strength without much financial input. United community Centers are growing like Hands and Heart Community Garden a NY locally organic food market.

The Food Industry Challenges That Obama Needs to Address
President-elect Obama’s choice for Secretary of Agriculture could be perhaps the most important clue as to whether Obama really intends to bring change to Washington. It will determine whether or not he plans to take on one of the most powerful lobbies in the country, the businessmen who turned agriculture into agribusiness.

Current farm policy was called by Time magazine, "a welfare program for the megafarms that use the most fuel, water and pesticides; emit the most greenhouse gases; grow the most fattening crops; hire the most illegals; and depopulate rural America." An online movement has sprung up calling on President-elect Obama to name anti-agribusiness crusader Michael Pollan Secretary of Agriculture. Pollan's popular books include The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.

In this fascinating interview, Bill Moyers asked Michael Pollan what would happen if he was named Secretary of Agriculture instead of yet one more advocate of industrial farming. Sources: Bill Moyer’s Journal (Part II) November 28, 2008Bill Moyer’s Journal (Part I) November 28, 2008PBS.org Interview TranscriptOrganic Consumers Association Petition to Stop Vilsack's Confirmation as Secretary of Agriculture

I believe the time is right for the re-authorization of Industrial-grade Hemp. It could be the impetus for a stimulus to rescue our flailing economy.
The one issue which can be used to push open the door is a product called: Hemcrete. It is an agricultural concrete mixture which is proven to be 5x stronger than regular concrete. Each and every Hemp Farming advocate in every State should with one voice demand the government to allow an agricultural-driven market to assist in stimulating the economy.
President-elect Obama has committed to massive construction projects throughout the country. These public works projects are intended to stimulate employment growth which in turn will lead towards prosperity and a stable economy. Imagine how much more successful this endeavor could be if every farmer who wanted to supply Industrial Hemp to be converted into concrete for their individual state road and bridge projects would find a ready market for their commodity.
Our roads and bridges would be constructed with 21st Century technology. The maintenance of these roads and bridges would decrease, allowing for tax revenues to be spent on other priorities.
With any excess crop materials, other industries would finally be allowed to emerge, such as, automobile bodies made completely with Hemp-based bio-degradable plastics.
About six months ago, I had good fortune shine down on me for a day. It was then that I decided to put my money where my opinion is regarding Hemp. All through the Internet, I purchased a great pair of tennis shoes (100% Hemp) , A new pair of Blue Jeans (100% Hemp) , a long sleeve pull-over shirt (100% Hemp) , an Over-shirt to match the long sleeve (100% Hemp) , a new Wallet (100% Hemp) and a pair of socks (100% Hemp). When the packages arrived, I was pleasantly surprised that the vendor had included another pair of sock (100% Hemp) and two Chap stick tubes (100% Hemp) for free.

This Country has family farmers going into foreclosure, factories shutting their doors. If this Nation were to re-authorize Industrial Hemp, Millions upon Millions of citizens would have employment regardless if they live in the big cities or small towns across this land.
President Obama needs to answer why it is, the jobs in creating all these products are found in Canada, throughout Europe, and Asia while Our family farms go into foreclosure, our factories shut down.
Reauthorizing the Industrial production of non-THC producing Hemp could be a boon to our domestic economy.
Elsewhere on this site I have a proposal asking President Obama to consider supporting the use of Hempcrete on all these road and bridge projects he's proposed.
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/i_believe_the_time_is_right_

Imagine the unlimited imagination of the American people being unleashed at this moment in our history

I think our country should definatley focus on child hunger in our country, especially as we are now in a recession. A lot of money is spent to feed children in other countries. I do feel for them and don't mean to sound selfish but at the same time shouldn't we be doing more to feed our own children first? My family lives in Michigan. There are fewer and fewer jobs to go around every day. Last winter, there were 3 of of in the household plus I was pregnant. I tried to support all of us on $1000 a month. We recieved NO help from the government and many agencies because there isn't enough funding or food to go around. We are still hungry and have no food in the house. Something has to be done to help families who are struggling! There needs to be different priorities when it comes to where government funding is sent and spent. Please help make hungry children in the United States a thing of the past!

Also, someone mentioned grocery stores and such giving leftover food to the hungry instead of throwing it away. I agree that this would be a great idea but working at a store, I also know why it usually isn't done. It all has to do with liability. If soemone got sick and said it came from the food the recieved they can sue the company. Our Wal-Mart throws away tons of food a day and as much as the store manager would love to help hungry families in the area, he cannot. Maybe if there were more laws to protect companies dong this good deed, more would be willing to do it.

Nicole,

On October 1, 1996, President Clinton signed into effect The Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (Public Law 104-210). This made it easier for businesses to donate to food banks and food rescue programs. Donors are protected from liability when donating to nonprofit organizations and from civil and criminal liability if a product donated in good faith later causes harm to a recipient.

The law also sets a liability floor of “gross negligence” or intentional misconduct for persons donating grocery products. It recognizes that the provision of food close to the recommended date of sale is not gross negligence. For example, cereal for retail sale marked close to code date can be donated. (http://www.hungerstrikeforce.org/Good_Samaritan_Act.asp)

I understand if Wal-Mart, as a huge corporation with a lot to lose, still feels they have liability... but the fact is that it is NOT illegal. This is the law that protects companies.
I work for an organization that recovers 2 tons of food per day from grocery stores, hotels, restuarants, etc. so I know it can be done. 

If you are looking for an idea that uses this recovered (untouched) food to feed the hungry in the community (as well as provide service learning opportunities), check out the DC Central Kitchen/Campus Kitchens sponsored idea "Student Leadership Feeding Communities"- we are currently in 3rd place in Domestic Poverty.
(http://www.change.org/ideas/view/student_leadership_feeding_communities)

Why only children?

"Why children" is a common question. There are a couple of reasons for this.

First, poverty in general is a complex issue. But feeding a child is not. We have many "safety net" systems already in place to help them. Millions of federal dollars are left unused each year. The problem is public education and getting the word out.

Second, childhood hunger has a huge long-term effect on society. Lack of food early affects one's physical development which often leads to health issues. If a child doesn't eat, they're likely not going to be able to participate well in classes. This  leads to impaired cognitive functioning and diminished capacity to learn, lower test scores and overall school performance. The often repeat a grade due to school absences, tardiness and school suspensions.

In short, their hunger can lead to long term societal problems, such as increased health care issues (which affect your health care costs), potential increase in joblesness (which can lead to increased crime), etc.

You can find out more here:
http://strength.org/childhood_hunger/

Why just childhood hunger?  Most children who are hungry have parents who are poor and hungry themselves.  End hunger - period!  

I greatly believe in this idea

Can you take a look that this one?

I supported your idea, please support this one.

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/pass_the_dream_act_now

Thank you

If you want to end hunger, than we can no longer sell food for profit. The last time there were no hungry humans was before the neolithic revolution, when farming began. That is when there became more humans than there was natural human food. There will be hungry/starving people until everyone can a full diet of meat (raised on a biologically approprate diet), and fresh local veg.

Why is it that stopping animal abuse (which is wrong, I don't deny) receiving more votes than ending childhood hunger?