A new coalition involving Virginia's First Lady is already seeing results in the effort to reduce childhood hunger across the state.
Organizers with the group Share Our Strength say their “No Kid Hungry” campaign is getting unprecedented attention from First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe.
Josh Wachs, chief strategy officer with Share Our Strength, says that attention is already feeding some of the one sixth of Virginia's kids who sometimes don't get enough to eat. Wachs says the McAuliffes understand it's not a lack of food, but a lack of outreach and access.
"We don't have childhood hunger in this country because we lack food, and we don't have it because we lack food and nutrition programs," Wachs says. "What this effort will do is really open up access for kids in the commonwealth."
According to No Kid Hungry more than 300,000 children in Virginia are what's known as food insecure, something the First Lady's office calls an "unacceptable number." But they say more schools are now offering breakfast and summer meals.
It is estimated that childhood hunger costs Virginia $3 billion a year in health-care expenditures and lost economic productivity. On the other hand, No Kid Hungry says children eating breakfasts in school, generate an average 17 percent better math scores.
"A kid simply can't be hungry to learn if they are just plain hungry," he says. "A kid who is sitting in their classroom with a rumbling stomach isn't going to get the most out of that day's lessons, out of their interactions with their teacher."
According to No Kid Hungry, the state provided 170,000 more summer meals this year than last, a 22 percent increase.