Reducing Food Insecurity in SC Children

Harvest Hope Food Bank began its Kids Café program in 2017 and has provided nearly 10,000 low-income children with hot meals and nutritious snacks after school and in the summer. From 2017 to 2018, 28,456 snacks and 159,113 meals were provided to these children. Decreasing food insecurity has been shown to decrease behavioral issues and improve attention spans of children in school. This grant, along with other Child Feeding Programs managed by Harvest Hope Food Bank, has been instrumental in reducing child food insecurity. According to Feeding America’s annual food insecurity report, Kids Café has reduced childhood food insecurity in the Midlands by 5.37 percent in the four years since the program was enacted and 15,000 South Carolina children are no longer food insecure because of the Kids Café program.