No Kid Hungry:  KDA Efforts to Reduce Hunger Drew Conference to Kentucky

LOUISVILLE (March 25, 2019) – Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign gathered anti-hunger advocates from across the country, including Kentucky, to look for ways to reduce hunger among children in rural communities during a national conference March 21-22 in Louisville.

The national anti-hunger organization featured educators, researchers, food bank leaders, government officials, and others at its first Rural Child Hunger Summit, with sessions on various topics aimed at developing and sharing strategies to combat rural child hunger.

“We are honored and humbled that Kentucky was chosen to host the first Rural Child Hunger Summit,” said Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, who spoke at the first session on March 21. “One in five Kentucky children doesn’t always know where his or her next meal will come from. That’s why I launched the Kentucky Hunger Initiative nearly three years ago – to bring together business, government, education, the agriculture industry, the faith community, and our food banks to look for ways to fight food insecurity. We’ve made measurable progress, but there is still much work to be done.”

Other Kentucky speakers besides Commissioner Quarles included Tamara Sandberg, executive director of Feeding Kentucky; Kate McDonald, KY Kids Eat coordinator for Feeding Kentucky; and Alison Gustafson and James Ziliak from the University of Kentucky.

“Our goal for the Rural Child Hunger Summit was to convene the right experts, advocates, and community leaders to tackle rural child hunger in this country in ways that emphasize resilience and inclusion,” said Derrick Lambert, senior manager for No Kid Hungry. “We were thrilled to host this event in Kentucky, a state where elected officials, academic researchers, and community-based organizations are working diligently and creatively to identify scalable solutions for a solvable problem.”

Participants heard about actions taking place in the field, looked for opportunities to scale existing programs, and talked about areas where more research, investment, or advocacy is needed. 

No Kid Hungry is dedicated to ending childhood hunger through effective programs that provide kids with the food they need. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization working to end hunger and poverty. To find out more about No Kid Hungry and the Rural Child Hunger Summit, go to NoKidHungry.org [r20.rs6.net].