As kids start hitting the books, No Kid Hungry is hitting the road to let you know that by dining out at any of 11,000 participating restaurants this September, you can help the 1 in 6 children facing hunger in America.
The Dine Out for No Kid Hungry school bus tour kicks off in New York on August 21 and ends in Los Angeles on September 13, holding events in cities along the way to highlight how and where you can dine out and make your meal count for kids. All September, when guests eat at a No Kid Hungry partner restaurant, from popular chains to local mom-and-pops, they can donate in exchange for money-saving rewards. Every $1 donated connects a child to 10 meals through No Kid Hungry’s programs and partnerships. Last year, this nationwide restaurant fundraiser generated more than 900 million meals for kids.
“It’s critically important that communities work together to help kids succeed in school and beyond,” says Paul Brown, CEO of Arby’s, a long-time Dine Out for No Kid Hungry partner. “With three out of four teachers regularly seeing kids come to school hungry and more than half of teachers buying food out of their own paychecks for students, it’s clear that this is an issue that we can’t turn our backs on.”
Brown is citing new data from No Kid Hungry’s “Hunger in Our Schools” report, released August 3, that highlights how 95 percent of teachers believe hunger impacts their student’s ability to succeed; 77 percent directly correlate hunger with poor academic performance.
Another component this year’s Dine Out for No Kid Hungry taps into is the injustice felt by teachers, parents and particularly students—41 percent of teens surveyed feel angry about the state of hunger in schools. The school bus tour will feature a social media challenge to redefine “hangry” with a new, more serious message—that we are angry that kids are going hungry.
“There’s a strong sense of ‘It shouldn’t be like this in America,’ but not always a clear way to help,” says Diana Hovey, Senior Vice President at No Kid Hungry. “Eating out is something people are already doing, and if you can make your meal count for kids at the same time, it’s an easy way to make an immediate difference.”
Join the Dine Out for No Kid Hungry tour in New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego and Los Angeles.
