By Shaquille Blackstock, Staff Writer

Published in print Mar. 17, 2015

In the final weeks of February, Guilford County experienced heavy snowfall, leaving many local schools with no choice but to close, or open later. For many students this came as a relief, but for some it came as a burden.

Across many areas in Guilford County, many households have children that simply do not get enough to eat, and some schools—like Peck Elementary—have taken the initiative to combat the shadow of child poverty and hunger.

The News and Record reported on the principal of Peck Elementary, Francine Mallory, joining forces with a team of teachers to deliver bags of food to around 100 of their neediest students after heavy snowfall closed schools across the city on Feb. 27. 

Child hunger, however, is not only seen in the area around Peck Elementary, but across the state. According to the News and Record, North Carolina’s child poverty rate rose from 22.5 percent in 2009 to 25.2 percent in 2013. The rates have been rising ever since 2001, when poverty statistics rose from 11.3 percent to 11.7 percent.

According to statistics from the North Carolina Association of Feeding America Food Banks, while child fatality and tooth decay rates are reported to be down, rates of child hunger—or children who report as ‘food insecure’— is up, with one out of four children in need of food assistance.

Such rates call to attention the local organizations formed to combat this issue first hand, such as NC Child, which says its mission is “to advance public policies that improve the lives of North Carolina’s children.”

NC Child’s Director of Research and Data did not respond to The Carolinian’s request for a comment.

Other organizations that have tried to combat poverty rates include UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, which came into the spotlight mid-February when the UNC Board of Governors voted to discontinue it.