All children and families, regardless of race, ethnicity, or where they live, deserve access to high-quality affordable foods. Unfortunately, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, families in poverty and on the edge of poverty were hit hardest by hunger. It...
Kasey Porchia comes from a family of educators. Her mother, father, and aunts were teachers, coaches, and paraprofessionals who had a profound effect on why she chose education as her profession. They instilled in her a strong work ethic and...
Mary’s oldest daughter loves to hike, so they travel Arkansas together, hiking on different paths around the state. They then return home to Crossett, where Mary and her two daughters, ages 6 and 1, live. Mary heard about the...
Tomiko Townley currently serves as the Advocacy Director for the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. The Alliance is a collaborative organization that works on behalf of and with Arkansans facing hunger. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Tomiko was working as...
As hunger increased across Arkansas during the pandemic, one population was blocked from participating in a vital safety-net program intended to keep nutritious food on the table during tough times. Arkansans who were born in the Marshall Islands aren’t...
We were not prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic to hit and shut down most of the country in March 2020. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event that we are still trying to make our way through. We didn’t have the...
Childhood Hunger is a Racial Equity Issue There are far too many children in our country who go hungry every day, especially when we have the tools readily available to address childhood hunger. Instead of working to support children,...
Every child needs access to an adequate amount of healthy food to thrive. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, too many of Arkansas's children were facing hunger, especially our Black and Hispanic or Latino children.
From around the state, more than 100 advocates, business leaders, community members and foundation directors have signed a letter urging their fellow Arkansans to do their part in making a hunger-free Arkansas. The letter highlights that September is Hunger Action Month,...
In mid-March, 2020, it became clear that Arkansas schools were going to close before spring break and likely remain closed after spring break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then that Kay Kay DeRosette, the former Be Mighty Coordinator...