Hunger Often Has a Child’s Face : Study Finds That Many Youngsters Sleep Hungry or Malnourished

University of California researchers have identified the group that suffers most from hunger in Orange County: children.

While starvation, thankfully, doesn’t exist in this affluent area, a UC Cooperative Extension Services survey found evidence that thousands of children go to bed at night in Orange County either hungry or malnourished.

As a group, children represent more than half of the nutritionally deprived people in the county, mostly from families where mothers or fathers are trying to make ends meet on minimum-wage salaries.

Fewer than 18% of the hungry families are homeless, by the way. That suggests a different reality in Orange County from the perception many people have that people who are hungry also are homeless.

The survey indicated that families with children represented 86% of those seeking emergency food assistance. But, sadly, many others are unaware that they are eligible for food supplement programs, such as federal food stamps.

The survey found that almost half of those with children eligible for school breakfast and lunch programs and more than three-quarters of those eligible for food stamps were not participating in those programs. That’s because they either did not know what was available, were too proud to take advantage of offerings or local schools lacked programs.

In fact, county-administered poverty programs estimate that just 40% of those eligible are receiving their services. Food banks and pantries, which serve tens of thousands of families, also reach just a portion of those in need.

It doesn’t take a study, of course, to figure out that children who aren’t fed well won’t do as well in school. Michelle Van Eyken, county coordinator of the federally funded Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, says it well: “It’s a kind of starvation that exacts a debilitating toll on young children over their lifetime.”

That means that they are likely to grow up to achieve far less than their potential as adult citizens and contributing members of society.

The UC survey made several sound recommendations. Among them are increasing support for the county’s two food banks and other poverty agencies; expanding other food programs for the needy; increasing efforts to find people at risk of hunger, and encouraging neighborhoods and city governments to help service providers.

Sadly, encouragement is easier to suggest than find. A case in point is Costa Mesa’s eviction of the Share Our Selves food, clothing and financial assistance programs from Rea Community Center.

Residents of this affluent county must take off the blinders and see that hunger often wears the face of a child.