Advertisement

'Congress extending SNAP' would help to combat childhood hunger: Discovery executive

Discovery (DISCA) is teaming up with Kellogg Company (K) and No Kid Hungry to combat one of the fastest growing issues in the United States — childhood hunger.

Food insecurity has been a more pressing problem since the coronavirus pandemic left millions unemployed. According to Census data, 16.5% of households with children reported that it was sometimes or often the case that the children were not eating enough due to a lack of resources during the week of June 18-23 2020, 5.5 times the 2018 rate of 3%.

Jessica Beatus, Discovery Inc. Group VP of Standards and Practices and Social Good, told Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade it was time to take further action as part of their initiative, Turn Up! Fight Hunger.

“Food insecurity in America is completely solvable,” Beatus says. “It really is an issue of awareness and efficiency.”

As part of the initiative, Discovery launched a 30-second public service announcement on Food Network and TLC. People can also text the word “hungry” to 707070 to donate to the cause. Beatus says it takes more than corporate social responsibility to make “real meaningful change,” but also empowering viewers across their networks, 25% of whom are mothers themselves, to take action too.

It’s “the value of the public and private partnership,” she says. “We’re giving our consumers all kinds of options from really basic donations, to being able to connect with representatives and Congress members to have them vote on policies that will impact ending childhood hunger and also volunteer opportunities.”

MIAMI, FLORIDA - JULY 24: Karen Sutton (L) and Maggie Izquierdo  place food in the trunk of a vehicle at a drive-thru food distribution site set up at the First Church of the Brethren on July 24, 2020 in Miami, Florida. 500 boxes of food were donated by Farm Share for those in need to help people trying to make ends meet during the pandemic. The United States economic recovery is showing signs of weakness as a renewed outbreak of COVID-19 has caused some business owners to lay employees off again, four months after the initial outbreak of coronavirus in March. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Karen Sutton (L) and Maggie Izquierdo place food in the trunk of a vehicle at a drive-thru food distribution site set up at the First Church of the Brethren on July 24, 2020 in Miami. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Since the launch of the "Turn Up! Fight Hunger," more than 312 million meals have been provided to kids in need.

“Part of what Congress is looking at right now, as they look at the stimulus package, is extending SNAP benefits...extending that and the P-EBT would make it a lot easier,” she says. (P-EBT, or Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer, are temporary food benefits, were part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, to help cover the cost of meals children would otherwise would have received at school.)

Brooke DiPalma is a producer for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma.

READ MORE:

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.