This week, President-Elect Donald Trump nominated Sonny Perdue to become the next Secretary of Agriculture.
This is a critical role in ending childhood hunger in the United States. Thirteen million kids in this country struggle with hunger. The Department of Agriculture oversees the programs that work together to ensure that children in need are able to get basic nutrition. To that end, we need everyone in our network to send a Tweet to Sonny Perdue, urging him to make ending childhood hunger a priority.
Here are just a few of the programs the new Secretary of Agriculture will oversee:
School Meals
School meals ensure that kids who struggle with hunger are able to get consistent nutrition throughout the week. Meals like school breakfast play a vital role in a child’s ability to learn. When kids get consistent, reliable access to school meals, they are better able to focus in class. Test scores rise, absenteeism drops, and teachers see a dramatic improvement in classroom behavior.
Summer Meals
Summer is the hungriest time of year for many kids from low-income families. The national summer nutrition program helps children get the basic nutrition they need during the summer months when school meals aren’t available. This nutrition protects kids from cognitive decline and summer learning loss. In the long-term, these meals have an impact on high school graduation rates and whether or not children are at risk of chronic diseases.
SNAP
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or “food stamps”) remains one of the most powerful tools we have for ending childhood hunger in the United States today. Nearly half (44%) of all people who participate in the SNAP program are kids. It has a direct impact on hunger – food insecurity among kids falls by a third after families begin receiving benefits. SNAP also lifts millions of children out of poverty each year.
Join us in urging the nominee to prioritize policies that can end childhood hunger for millions of children in America by sharing this Tweet:
