Share Our Strength

Awareness is one of the biggest barriers to connecting kids to meals during the summer months. That's why we want to recognize and thank our summer media partners for lending their platforms and resources to help us connect more kids to healthy meals this summer - Thank you for making No Kid Hungry a reality this summer and every day: Catalina Stan and Jessica King at iHeartMedia Cyd Converse at Mediavine Tammy Evrard, Kristin Dierwa Nolan, Joe Faherty and Avril B. at Atmosphere TV

New research by No Kid Hungry finds that more than half of parents (59%) say their child wouldn’t have enough to eat if it weren’t for the meals they receive during the school day, one of several findings highlighting the essential financial lifeline school meals provide for families across the country. The data builds on our research released in June 2026 that uncovers the mounting financial pressure and unthinkable tradeoffs parents living with low incomes are being forced to make on basic essentials like groceries, school supplies and household bills due to inflation and continually rising costs. Among the national sample of parents surveyed,* 83% report worrying about being able to buy all the food they usually would due to rising costs, and 70% are concerned about having to choose between paying bills and buying healthy food for their kids. This has forced many parents to experience food-related debt (68%) and make tough choices like putting off the payment of a utility bill (45%) or even skipping meals so their kids could eat (30%). Learn more in our release: https://lnkd.in/eFZ6FtxA

It’s officially back-to-school season. Right now around the country, teachers are putting the final touches on their classrooms and lesson plans, and school nutrition directors are restocking cafeterias and preparing delicious menus for school meals this year.    But for millions of families who have lost access to SNAP benefits in the last year, including at least 1.5 million kids, this first day of school means something more: the return of regular, reliable school meals their kids can count on as budgets are stretched to the brink.    In new polling out today from No Kid Hungry, parents across the country told us that school meals will be a lifeline for their kids' nutrition and academic success this year. The research found:   ▪️ More than half of parents (59%) report their kid wouldn’t have enough to eat without the meals they get at school; ▪️ Nearly 90% of parents say school meals relieve pressure on their ability to feed their kids; and ▪️ 71% report that without free/reduced school meals, it would be difficult for them to afford their child’s school supplies   These are families who have been failed by a decimated safety net just as grocery, gas, and even basic school supply costs skyrocket. Devastating cuts to SNAP and Medicaid have kicked off a cruel cascading effect, as some children who have lost these benefits might also lose automatic eligibility for no-cost school meals. Instead, parents will be forced to jump through bureaucratic hurdles to ensure their kids can access those meals. At the same time, it will be harder for schools to qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision that allows them to offer no-cost breakfast and lunch to all students, jeopardizing access in communities that need it most.    Our team at Share Our Strength is fighting to protect these federal programs and to ensure schools and communities have the resources they need to feed as many kids as possible. Programs like school meals aren’t a nice-to-have; they’re the difference between a kid showing up to school prepared to learn or too hungry to focus.    Read more about what we heard from parents here: https://lnkd.in/efuY_iA3

Please welcome Maura Allen as our new Chief Program Officer! In this role, she will lead our largest division, playing a central role to shape a unified, forward-looking programmatic strategy to help advance our mission of ending childhood hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad. “Maura joins Share Our Strength at a pivotal moment,” said Anne Filipic, CEO of Share Our Strength. "As Americans continue to face steadily rising costs of living and threats to federal nutrition programs, we need to do everything we can to protect and strengthen these programs as well as address the root causes of hunger by building economic mobility for families. Under Maura’s leadership, I feel confident we can do just that and deepen our programmatic impact through these moments of change.” See our full statement: https://lnkd.in/g_uEwPR7

We're #hiring a new Associate Director, State Government Relations in Washington, District of Columbia. Apply today or share this post with your network.

We're #hiring a new Sr. Manager, CRM Administration in Washington, District of Columbia. Apply today or share this post with your network.

Keeping Things In Perspective $26.5 Billion: “ExxonMobil and Chevron reported second-quarter earnings worth a combined $26.5bn, as they cashed in on surging crude and petrol prices caused by Donald Trump’s Iran war….Chevron made net income of $12.2bn in the three months to end June, a fivefold increase on the same period last year and a record for the Houston-based oil group." The Weekend Financial Times, 8/2/26  https://lnkd.in/g5375KiP $9.8 Billion: Restoring SNAP benefits to the 3.5 million Americans forced off of the food assistance they need would cost $9.8 billion. #Hunger #SNAP #nutrition #oilprofits #foodassistance #Nationalpriorities #IranWar #affordability #inflation #SNAPbenefits (my weekly Substack column can be found at https://lnkd.in/enmJmCk6 Subscribers welcome)