Struggling for an Education While Hungry

Rescued Food Distribution at Cal State San Marcos

When you think of who is hungry in the U.S. you don’t usually picture a college student with backpack full of books standing in a bread  line to get free food.  Sadly this is exactly who we see at our Rescued Food Distributions near a California State University. Today an estimated 40% of students struggle with hunger in some areas.  Our university students are this country’s next generation labor force and when they are struggling to feed themselves it takes away from their academic achievement. We are in a global economy and academic achievement is critical to our nation’s economic future. Having our brightest struggling to feed themselves hurts our future. Hunger hurts. Meanwhile, over 96 billion pounds of good food end up dumped into landfills each year. Doesn’t it make sense to rescue that food before it becomes waste and get it to the hungry? Feed the hungry not landfills!

From “America’s Food Stamp Student Body”….”Apart from of the obvious social consequences, food insecurity has been associated with depression, stress, poor academic performance and poor physical health, which only compounds the effort needed to advance oneself in this intensely competitive economy.”https://www.vocativ.com/02-2014/americas-food-stamp-student-body/