National Hunger Hotline Seeks to Reach More Children in Arkansas

Want to help feed a hungry child in Arkansas? The non-profit group Hunger Free America is ramping up efforts to promote the USDA National Hunger Hotline nationwide 1-866-3-HUNGRY to help increase the need for free summer meals for low-income children funded by our federal government.

Even though children need just as much, if not more, nutrition during the summer months, in Arkansas, only 12.6 percent of kids who receive free and reduced school meals, receive summer meals. Approximately 87.4 Percent of eligible kids in Arkansas fail to get summer meals so raising awareness about this program is the single greatest barrier to participation. Summer meals are available to all kids 18 and under, and no identification is required, according to a press release.

By calling 1-866-3-HUNGRY or 1-877-8-HAMBRE ( Spanish) callers can locate summer meal programs in their immediate area.

Because the human body tends to burn more calories during the summer in order to keep cool, record heat this summer will further increase the need for free summer meals for under privileged children.

Hunger Free America just launched a state-of-the art volunteer matching portal HungerVolunteer.org to make it easier to mobilize the unique talents and skills of each individual volunteer in order to take the biggest bite out of hunger.