Can Thousands of Paper Plates Push Congress to End Child Hunger?

Serving ware isn't of much use if you don't have any food to fill it. That's the exact point one South Carolina non-profit is trying to make by sending a collection of paper plates to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The Harvest Hope Food Bank recently finished up the planning stages of its Paper Plate Campaign. As part of an effort to raise awareness about children's hunger in South Carolina, volunteers decorated about 500 paper plates with personalized messages. According to WLTX.com, the food bank plans to send the plates to Washington, D.C. next week.

South Carolina delegates won't be the only ones receiving a collection of decorated paper plates. According to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), organizations from more than 10 states are working on their own Paper Plate Campaigns to raise awareness about child hunger in the U.S. The plate collections couldn't come at a better time — according to CNN, food insecurity is at its highest level in 15 years. Plus, due to budget constraints, a number of kids' feeding programs are currently on the chopping block, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Also known as food stamps, SNAP provides benefits to families in need so that they can purchase groceries. With the economic recession still impacting families across the U.S., the program's never been more popular. According to FRAC, 42.3 million Americans received SNAP benefits in August of 2010, a record-high enrollment rate. According to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), about one in five Americans and 23.2 percent of U.S. children struggled with hunger in 2009. That's the highest percentage of hungry children since the USDA started the survey back in 1995, reports FRAC.

Despite the obvious need for SNAP benefits, Congress is currently considering slashing future food stamp funds. The Child Nutrition Act is a proposed law that aims to upgrade the quality of school lunches and enroll more kids in the free- and reduced-cost meal program. While giving school lunch a much-needed makeover is a noble goal, Congress wants to pay for the bill in part by cutting future food stamp benefits by $2.2 billion. It's a move that robs kids of their dinners in order to feed them better lunches, a plan that will only exacerbate child hunger in America.

Paper plates from organizations like South Carolina's Harvest Hope Food Bank, Maryland Hunger Solutions, and the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank are meant to let lawmakers know that child hunger in America has reached epidemic status. It's not a time to choose one nutrition program over another, but rather to fund an assortment of initiatives so that kids won't have to wonder where their next meal is coming from.

To start a Paper Plate Campaign in your state, contact FRAC for more information. You can also sign FRAC's petition asking Congress to pass the Child Nutrition Act without cutting any future food stamp benefits.

Photo credit: FRAC