The children are now here, please help us feed them

In April we reminded you that the children were coming. It is now summer, school is out and the children are here. Families with children make up the majority of our increased need for service. Loaves & Fishes requests for service have increased 54% over December 2009 levels. Our donations have not kept pace with the need.

It is noted that across America 16 million children will face a summer of hunger in 2010. To quote Judy Pasternak of America On Line news, “The children caught in the gap will likely spend the next few months cadging for leftovers from neighbors, chowing down on cheap junk food, lining up with their families at food banks or soup kitchens that are already overtaxed, or simply learning to live with a constant headache, growling stomach and chronic fatigue. When school does roll around again in the fall, they will be less healthy and less ready to learn than their peers who are not food insecure.”

In California 2.9 million residents cannot put food on the table on a stable basis and are thus food insecure. At Loaves & Fishes dining rooms across the county we are seeing an additional rise of between 150-250 meals a day throughout the summer. Many of our new guests are children who are out of school and have no access to a school-provided meal.

We need your help today to provide these meals that are desperately needed in our dining rooms. Please go to our donation page and give what you can. Any gift, large or small, will make the difference to the hungry this summer.