Australia’s 1.2 million hungry kids

“The massive concern for us is not only those one in six Australian adults who haven’t had enough to eat, but on top of that a further 1.2 million children have gone hungry through that same period,” Ms Casey said.“The effect on wellbeing, future prospects (and their) ability to absorb information in class? We have to look at all aspects of mental health and wellbeing for Australian children and we know that having access to enough food and the right food is critically important to a child’s ability to thrive.”Ms Casey welcomed children’s long awaited return to the classroom so school breakfast programs could resume nationwide. “Starting the day well with a full tummy is (critical) to a child’s ability to engage in class, to participate in learning,” she said.Despite Australia producing “enough food in this country to feed ourselves three times over”, Foodbank distributed more food in the last 12 months than in any time in its history to more than a million people each month, Ms Casey said.“Whether there’s a natural disaster or a pandemic, an increasing number of Australians are not able to access the food and groceries they need or the quality of food they need to be able to sustain their family,” she said.“If you can’t fill your child’s lunch box, if you can’t give them breakfast, if you are an older Australian who is skipping eating for an entire day a week … please (contact) us.”Released Wednesday, the annual Hunger Report challenges key assumptions about who accesses emergency food relief, finding that 64 per cent of Australians experiencing food insecurity are in paid employment.“If we combine levels of income, levels of unemployment and underemployment with a real challenge around access to affordable housing, we have got the perfect storm,” Ms Casey said. “It’s going to take a long time for people to get back on their feet.”Indeed, adding to Australia’s Covid-created mental health crisis, Director of Deakin University’s Food and Mood Centre, Professor Felice Jacka OAM said that a poor quality diet imposed an increased risk for mental health problems “right from the start of life.” “The true cost of our poor food environment is even larger than thus far calculated,” she said.A level one investigator with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Professor Jacka said poverty and disadvantage were already key risk factors for mental health problems and families experiencing food insecurity often relied on cheap industrialised food products. “This represents a double whammy to the risk for mental health problems across the life-course,” she said. “Ensuring access to inexpensive healthful foods … is likely to yield substantial benefits in the form of prevention of both mental and physical health problems. Food policies to support this aim are essential, yet currently lacking.”Single mum Kahli Roberts lost her job at the start of the pandemic and has struggled to find a new one. She currently needs food relief every week to help feed her three sons, Angus, 15, and twins Mason and Sebastian, nine.“I need a roof over our heads first, then bills get paid, then whatever’s left I pay for food,” Ms Roberts said. “It affects my daily life sometimes because I stress out about how I’m going to feed them.” Ms Roberts cried hearing her own admission. “My kids go hungry sometimes just because money’s run out and I’m waiting for payday, so we’re down to two-minute noodles and porridge – I make sure that we’ve always got something like that in the cupboard because it’s cheap,” she said. “But it’s not very healthy, so … that makes me upset that I can’t provide that every day.”A community centre volunteer who both receives and distributes Foodbank parcels to others, Ms Roberts said while she was very grateful for Foodbank’s support, she sometimes worried for her boys’ health. “They’re not quite getting enough and … they’re always hungry,” she said.“It would be lovely to have the freedom to spend money on nice things, apart from essential things, so that’s the plan: to be able to get employment to improve our situation.”Please reach out to support services if you need help feeding yourself or your family: foodbank.org.au, askizzy.org.au

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October 19, 2021 at 11:30PM
“The massive concern for us is not only those one in six Australian adults who haven’t had enough to eat, but on top of that a further 1.2 million children have gone hungry through that same period,” Ms Casey said.“The effect on wellbeing, future prospects (and their) ability to absorb information in class? We have to look at all aspects of mental health and wellbeing for Australian children and we know that having access to enough food and the right food is critically important to a child’s ability to thrive.”Ms Casey welcomed children’s long awaited return to the classroom so school breakfast programs could resume nationwide. “Starting the day well with a full tummy is (critical) to a child’s ability to engage in class, to participate in learning,” she said.Despite Australia producing “enough food in this country to feed ourselves three times over”, Foodbank distributed more food in the last 12 months than in any time in its history to more than a million people each month, Ms Casey said.“Whether there’s a natural disaster or a pandemic, an increasing number of Australians are not able to access the food and groceries they need or the quality of food they need to be able to sustain their family,” she said.“If you can’t fill your child’s lunch box, if you can’t give them breakfast, if you are an older Australian who is skipping eating for an entire day a week … please (contact) us.”Released Wednesday, the annual Hunger Report challenges key assumptions about who accesses emergency food relief, finding that 64 per cent of Australians experiencing food insecurity are in paid employment.“If we combine levels of income, levels of unemployment and underemployment with a real challenge around access to affordable housing, we have got the perfect storm,” Ms Casey said. “It’s going to take a long time for people to get back on their feet.”Indeed, adding to Australia’s Covid-created mental health crisis, Director of Deakin University’s Food and Mood Centre, Professor Felice Jacka OAM said that a poor quality diet imposed an increased risk for mental health problems “right from the start of life.” “The true cost of our poor food environment is even larger than thus far calculated,” she said.A level one investigator with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Professor Jacka said poverty and disadvantage were already key risk factors for mental health problems and families experiencing food insecurity often relied on cheap industrialised food products. “This represents a double whammy to the risk for mental health problems across the life-course,” she said. “Ensuring access to inexpensive healthful foods … is likely to yield substantial benefits in the form of prevention of both mental and physical health problems. Food policies to support this aim are essential, yet currently lacking.”Single mum Kahli Roberts lost her job at the start of the pandemic and has struggled to find a new one. She currently needs food relief every week to help feed her three sons, Angus, 15, and twins Mason and Sebastian, nine.“I need a roof over our heads first, then bills get paid, then whatever’s left I pay for food,” Ms Roberts said. “It affects my daily life sometimes because I stress out about how I’m going to feed them.” Ms Roberts cried hearing her own admission. “My kids go hungry sometimes just because money’s run out and I’m waiting for payday, so we’re down to two-minute noodles and porridge – I make sure that we’ve always got something like that in the cupboard because it’s cheap,” she said. “But it’s not very healthy, so … that makes me upset that I can’t provide that every day.”A community centre volunteer who both receives and distributes Foodbank parcels to others, Ms Roberts said while she was very grateful for Foodbank’s support, she sometimes worried for her boys’ health. “They’re not quite getting enough and … they’re always hungry,” she said.“It would be lovely to have the freedom to spend money on nice things, apart from essential things, so that’s the plan: to be able to get employment to improve our situation.”Please reach out to support services if you need help feeding yourself or your family: foodbank.org.au, askizzy.org.au