I remember saying to my mother when I was in high school that I didn’t know what hunger felt like. I had been raised in a middle class environment. Hunger was only a concept. That is not true locally. Although San Miguel seems prosperous to those of us who have moved here, thousands of children know debilitating hunger because they don’t have the luxury of eating every day. Resulting malnutrition affects their physical and cognitive development, causing them to do poorly in school and be vulnerable to illness.
Enter Feed the Hungry San Miguel, whose mission it is to break the cycle of poverty through good nutrition. FTH provides hot, well balanced meals to more than 4,000 school children in 29 San Miguel communities every school day. Over its 32 years of nonprofit work, FTH has found that when it builds a school kitchen, attendance increases by as much as 20 percent, scholastic achievement increases and behavioral problems decrease.
Thousands of children in SMA know debilitating hunger because they don’t have the luxury of eating every day (Photo: FTH)
Come to Rotary Tuesday, November 22, at 1:30 at Hotel Mision, Salida a Queretaro 1 when former FTH President Gary Peterson will share how 100 volunteers make all of this happen through individual child evaluations and parent orientations. The presentation will be free and in English.
“A malnourished girl grows into a malnourished woman and gives birth to a malnourished baby. If the baby even survives, the cycle is self-perpetuating. When sustained malnutrition occurs in the womb or in the first two years of life, the physical and cognitive damage it causes is near impossible to reverse,” says Peterson.
Former FTH President Gary Peterson (Photo: FTH)
Rotary unites neighbors, community leaders and global citizens for the common good. For more information, contact President Nate Fultz at [email protected] and see RotarySMAMidday.org.
Rotary Presentation
- Title: Feeding the Hungry
- Date, time: Tuesday, November 22, 2016, 12:30 p.m.
- Where: Hotel Mision
- Address: Salida a Queretaro 1
- Extra info: 415 112 3413
- Cost: Free Addmission
By Robin Loving
