Homeless children need to be fed

The Manatee County School District has identified over 1,800 children ages 6 and 12 years old who are homeless. Some of these children reside in the back of cars, in group homes, or motels.

These children are coming to school hungry, lack attention because of hunger and although the school system is providing these children breakfast and lunch during the week, over the weekend many of these children go hungry.

The problem of poverty is pervasive and can be overwhelming. Around the world, more than 1 billion people are malnourished. An estimated 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day. Every day children are dying just because they don’t have enough food to eat. That’s a tragedy that should not occur.

One out of every five children in the United States lives at or below the poverty level and the USDA estimates that 17.8 percent of all children in Florida are “food-deprived.”

Our Elks program purchases food, inventories, stocks, and packs meals in backpacks and delivers them to the elementary schools they attend. All monies obtained through grants, philanthropy, benefits and donations go toward purchasing food, as “Elks Feeding Empty Little Tummies” has no administrative expenses.

Our goal is not only to provide for as many children as we can afford through grants, donations of money, and/or food, but also to raise awareness in our community of the needs of these homeless children. Our mission is to provide weekend meals to elementary school-age children who are homeless and/or living in food-deprived households.

Though masked by our prosperity-focused culture, poverty is a serious issue right here at home, and the problem has become more serious in our hurting economy. Our community needs to know and help.

This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Homeless children need to be fed."