All throughout this month, when you make a donation to the Hunger Is campaign at Safeway stores throughout Hawaiʻi, your money will help us expand school breakfast participation in our schools.

HONOLULU, Hawaiʻi — All through September 2019, when you visit your local Safeway store in Hawaiʻi you’ll see signs advertising the annual Hunger Is fundraiser, sponsored by the Safeway Foundation and with the support of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). When you checkout with your cashier, you’ll have the option to make a donation to Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice and make a difference in the fight to end hunger in Hawaiʻi. Hawaiʻi Appleseed will use your generous donation exclusively to combat childhood hunger in our state by improving our state’s school breakfast participation rate.

“Less than 40 percent of Hawaiʻi students who receive free or reduced-price school lunches also receive breakfast at school, making Hawaiʻi 50th in the nation for participation in this important program,” said Nicole Woo, Hawaiʻi Appleseed Senior Policy Analyst. “School breakfast has powerful benefits to both physical health and mental growth, with cascading effects on our society at large.”

“Students who skip breakfast have a harder time learning,” said Daniela Spoto, Hawaiʻi Appleseed Director of Anti-Hunger Initiatives. “Many of Hawaiʻi’s families can’t afford to provide their children with a healthy breakfast every morning. Even families that are financially stable often have such busy schedules that they find it challenging to sit down with their children for a good breakfast in the morning. That’s why Hawaiʻi Appleseed is committed to improving the rate of participation among students experiencing food insecurity.”

In West Virginia, the top-ranked state, more than 80 percent of students involved in free and reduced-price lunch programs also participate in breakfast programs. If our entire state were to raise our school breakfast participation rate to 70 percent, almost 17,000 more of our keiki would benefit from school breakfast, and our state would get nearly $7 million per year in additional federal funds.

These efforts have already resulted in some progress. Last year, thanks to efforts spearheaded by Hawaiʻi’s First Lady Dawn Amano-Ige and the Hawaiʻi Department of Education, schools across the islands piloted innovative “Breakfast After the Bell” models. These flexible, customizable models make sure that kids get a healthy meal before they start class in a way that works for them, even if they are rushed for time. This year, the leadership team plans to expand adoption of these models to 40 additional schools in high needs communities.

Part of the project also involves plans to prioritize the voices of students through video and recipe competitions, and by recruiting young people to serve on an advisory board.

A charitable program of the Safeway Foundation, the Hunger Is campaign builds awareness and raises funds in an effort to eradicate childhood hunger in America. Funds raised through Hunger Is focus on adding breakfasts in and out of school through federal nutrition programs and other means focused on combatting childhood hunger and improving other health-related outcomes. The Hunger Is campaign will run the entire month of September at all 22 Safeway stores in Hawaiʻi.

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The Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice is committed to a more socially just Hawaiʻi, where everyone has genuine opportunities to achieve economic security and fulfill their potential. We change systems that perpetuate inequality and injustice through policy development, advocacy and coalition building.