United Way Of Onslow County Inc.

Childhood hunger in Onslow County is rampant.  Children without adequate food over the weekend often suffer from stomachaches, the inability to focus, chronic absences and frequent headaches. Long-term food insecurity can also result in behavioral problems, lower physical functions, and depressive disorders, especially in adolescents.  When school staff at Dixon Elementary noticed these tell-tale signs in their students, they realized they must act! The PTO, business leaders, faith based organizations, local nonprofits and United Way of Onslow County met and developed the Children Healthy Eating on Weekends (CHEW) Program to respond to this urgent need.

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 30 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.  

For families living in poverty in Onslow County the stress, worry and guilt of not being able to feed your family is physically and mentally unhealthy.  The families in poverty need community support financially and socially to ensure success in education and opportunity for their children.  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.  CHEW program's definition of success is providing the Onslow County School children receiving free or reduced lunch with the ability to successfully meet academic requirements in school with the healthy food they need every day to thrive.   United Way of Onslow County's CHEW program helps remove the barrier of food insecurity and hunger by providing school age children with bags filled with child-friendly, easy to prepare meals, on the weekends.