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Despite annual holiday surges in efforts to reach the hungry and homeless, 30,000 people around the world still die everyday due to hunger or hunger related illnesses. In 2000, the US Department of Agricultural estimated that 33 million Americans did not have regular access to adequate nutrition. The holiday season offers a chance to reflect with your students about how your class can contribute to continuous efforts to eradicate hunger and homelessness. It is a chance to remember our best values and commit to realizing them throughout the year.

While hunger is often presented as a single issue, it is actually multi-faceted and complex. For example, well-informed students know that certain canned goods are much more valuable to food banks than others. To begin discussion, you may want to start by encouraging your students to find information on hunger. By acknowledging that some working people are hungry, that many people in rural areas are hungry and that children are disproportionately stricken with hunger, you will open their eyes to the diversity of this experience. More advanced classes may discuss whether the stereotype of hunger prevents it from getting more attention or resolution on the national level.

In addition to honing their research skills on the web, students may contact local or regional organizations that address hunger. These organizations are often willing to send a representative to speak with a class or school about their mission and the tangible impact of hunger in the immediate region. Once your students have learned about methods to alleviate hunger, they are ready to consider how they can have the most impact. Students should be given as much leeway as possible in determining their goals and approach to addressing hunger.

Because hunger is so pervasive, complex and troubling, countless organizations are dedicated to addressing it. A few of these organizations offer suggested curricula that address several subject areas and could be adapted to many age groups. “Reach out to SOVA: An Elementary Curriculum to Address Local Hunger” is an amazingly comprehensive and inspiring curriculum centered on a partnership with elementary education and a local organization that addresses hunger. It is available free here: http://www.abcdbooks.org/curriculum/fooddrive.html . The website “World Hunger: The Face of Starvation”  (http://www.manteno.k12.il.us/drussert/WebQuests
/HallOvandoRobinson/intro.html ) offers a simulation in which students are forced into leadership roles and charged with the task of addressing hunger in developing countries. The culmination of the experience involves increasing awareness of homelessness among other students and community members.

There are certainly many more curricula available. Hunger is a pressing problem around the world. Despite having enough global food production to feed everyone, millions die of starvation each year. To believe in human kindness and capacity for continual improvement is to believe that this generation of students will do far better than has been done previously in addressing world hunger. They can begin by making the alleviation of hunger a constant commitment throughout the whole year.