MSU students fighting against child hunger
MSU Public Relations
Students at Murray State University have chosen to fight childhood hunger by participating in the nationwide Backpack Program as their service project for 2008. Recognizing a great need here in their own community, they have set a lofty goal of providing 6,000 backpack meals to pre-school through 5th grade children throughout this school year.
Collections are underway with delivery of the first meals planned this week.
According to www.feedingamerica.org, 2006 statistics show that an estimated 12.6 million children live in what is classified as food insecure (low or very low food security) households. The stats also documented that 62 percent of all client households with children under the age of 18 participated in a school lunch program and nearly half of children were food stamp recipients.
Kentucky was listed as one of the top 10 states in prevalence of food insecurity during the two-year period of 2004-06.
By adopting the Backpack Program as their community service project for this year, Robin Taffler, coordinator of service learning at Murray State, says MSU students recognize that proper nutrition is vital to the growth and development of children and that providing substance meals will help to provide them with some of the basic key ingredients needed to not only survive, but learn and excel as students and future wage earners.
For complete story, see today's Ledger & Times
Story created Sep 29, 2008 - 13:36:04 EDT.
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