I was so pleased to learn in the Telegram’s Maine Voices column (“Early intervention breaks poverty, closes kids’ achievement gap,” Aug. 16) about Elevate Maine, the effort by the Maine Early Learning Investment Group (melig.org) to close the achievement gap for children living in poverty.

I’m writing to call attention to that other cause of stunted childhood development: hunger.

I live in beautiful Knox County, home to oceanfront estates, yachts, art galleries and marvelous restaurants, where 46 percent of the schoolchildren live in food-insecure homes.

At South Elementary in Rockland, 91 percent of the children qualify for free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches. Even in Camden-Rockport, “the jewel of the Maine coast,” the elementary school has 31 percent living in poverty.

Everyone knows the importance of good nutrition to developing brains, but many children get little to eat when school meals stop on weekends.

That hunger shows on Mondays, when they are inattentive, sleepy and sometimes disruptive in class, and it shows on their report cards as they move through difficult childhoods.

In Knox County, Area Interfaith Outreach food pantry is launching a Weekend Backpack Program this school year to send food home every Friday with 200 children in two Rockland schools.

Broad publicity is bringing in the funding ($225 per child for the year equals $45,000), and we’re hearing from other towns that are hoping to learn from our model, as we are modeled after similar programs in Gardiner, Wiscasset and Bath.

Your readers who would like to know more can look at our website and short video: www.knoxadopt abackpack.org. (The video is on the Child Hunger page.)

We have ample evidence that when people know there’s a problem, they want to help. The problem of hunger is huge, all across Maine, all across this country. A solution will not be simple, but acknowledging the problem is a start.

Sherry Cobb

president, Area Interfaith Outreach food pantry

Union

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