Children Healthy Eating on Weekends

According to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina in 2017 to 2018 50.7% of children in Onslow County Schools were in the free/reduced lunch program equating to 13,134 children in the free/reduced lunch program.  For the 2019-2020 school year those numbers have increased with now 52% of children in Onslow County Schools in the free/reduced lunch program.  

For school age children in Onslow County food insecurity and hunger is a huge barrier to their health and development, negatively impacting not only their physical health but also their mental health and academic potential.  Physical health implications to childhood food insecurity and hunger include malnutrition, stomach aches, headaches and loss of weight. Mental health implications include stress, anxiety and inability to focus.  With both physical and mental health implications of childhood food insecurity and hunger, children's education suffers. 

United Way of Onslow County uses its strengths in building partnerships to inspire community action to help provide food security to children living in poverty so they have equal educational opportunities.  Children Healthy Eating on Weekends (CHEW) program helps remove the barrier of food insecurity and hunger by providing school age children with backpacks filled with child-friendly, easy to prepare meals, on the weekends.  Since the CHEW Program's inception, the child friendly, healthy meals proved beneficial to the academic success of the children enrolled in the CHEW Program.  What started at one school with 10 children has grown to 34 schools and 900 children served each weekend through the CHEW Program. The goal of the CHEW program is to reach all children in Onslow County with food insecurity and hunger to remove the barrier to their overall health and create equal opportunities for them to succeed in school.  

We need your help in ensuring the children receive the nutritional meal needed to thrive.