“If They’re Hungry, They Can’t Focus”

Jessica Dean grew up in the Bronx. She thought she knew it. Then she started teaching here — and learned that in the richest city in the world, one in three kids in her borough goes home hungry. She spends all year making sure every child is ready to learn, keeping granola bars in her desk drawer for the kids who need more than a lesson that day. But when summer begins, the meals they rely on disappear.

“It’s one of the worst feelings in the world, knowing that some of the children in my class are going home hungry,” said Jessica. “We have to do better as New Yorkers.”

Give now so the kids Jessica worries about still have something to eat when school’s out.

Transcript:

Jessica Dean, Teacher: Alright. Come on in. Can you tell me the foods?

Students: Yeah.

Jessica: Food is a very important part of my life. It always has been.

Student: Can I have some raspberries?

Jessica: I was very lucky. I grew up in a family where we always had food available to us. Well, I’m gonna show you first. Is that okay?

Now, I’m born and raised — lived in the Bronx my whole life — and I didn’t know that one in three children are going home hungry.

Good job. Keep going.

So I think part of the issue is a lot of people don’t even know, but it makes me feel like I have to do the best that I can do in my classroom. We all do our best here to make sure that all of our kids do eat in this school, but that is not gonna happen all over the summer. Make sure your sleeves are rolled up, everybody.

It’s one of the worst feelings in the world, knowing that some of the children in my class are going home hungry. They get breakfast and lunch here, and then they also take snacks home with them. But we have to do better as New Yorkers to try to figure out a way to help.

It’s not acceptable that children are going home hungry.