United Way of King County is shining a bright light on hunger and we’re asking everyone including teenagers and children to think about their relationship to food.   Who has food, who doesn’t, where does your food come from?

As parents or educators you might be wondering how you can get your children/students involved in Hunger Action Week. Whole families can participate in the Hunger Challenge (eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, spending only $7 a day—the same amount allotted to a single person on food stamps), volunteer, and/or host a dinner party. But if you are interested in getting you child or student more involved in the hunger conversation here are a few suggestions:

1. First thing….drum roll please…register!
2. Have students study the Feeding America website and then take the Hunger Quiz.
3. Have students play SPENT, an interactive game designed by McKinney, an advertising agency in Durham, NC that teamed up with Urban Ministries of Durham to design this simulation of poverty.
4. Check out our Hunger Facts on our website and talk about some of the statistics.
5. Have them help you do some grocery shopping and pick out some items to donate to the University Village Microsoft Store Food Drive on March 3, 4, 11,17, and 18.
6. Consider this shocking statistic, 1 in 5 kids in King County is at risk of hunger. Now turn this statistic into an activity and discussion. Have every 4 students wear a yellow sticker (or another color) and 1 wear a blue sticker. Create a situation:
   1. Mary, Billy, Rob, and Alice all had breakfast today and dinner last night, but Raymond didn’t. In fact he hasn’t eaten since school lunch yesterday…How do you think he is feeling right now? How do you think being hungry might affect his school work?
   2. The other part of that statistic (that can be brought up in discussion) is that although 1 in 5 kids is at risk, 1 in 3 is considered overweight or obese. Ask them why they think that is.
   3. Have students watch this video and pose questions to them afterwards.
      1. What is going on in this video?
      2. Why is sustainability important?
      3. What does sustainability issues have to do with hunger?
   4. Check out these awesome food activities!