Millions of Americans are plagued with poverty. It is a growing issue that needs attention. Specifically, child hunger is a problem that needs a solution. Schools should create year-round programs that feed children for free or for very little cost to help reduce the amount of starving American kids. The amount of starving children in America is on the rise. Shirk, Bennett, and Aber state in their book that “almost half of America’s children are growing up in poverty or near poverty” (1). The book Lives on the Line clearly shows the 3 most common risk factors for family poverty: teen parents, low education level, and low- wage jobs. Teen parenthood increases the parents’ and children’s likelihood to not have enough money for necessities including food. The parents that do not achieve higher educational levels place children at risk for experiencing long term poverty as well. Also, temporary and low-wage jobs play an enormous role in families living below the poverty line (259). These are all real situations that many American adults face and their children suffer as well. It is not fair to the poor child that must go days without eating when it is not his or her own fault. To make matters worse, this issue is affecting children’s education too. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is essential to get the proper nutrition early in the morning to start the day off right. But it is also important to eat a healthy lunch to continue the day feeling satisfied. A program that helps fight against hunger states that there exists no “safe” level of inadequate nutrition for healthy, growing children. Even nutritional deficiencies of a relatively short duration – a missed breakfast, an inadequate lunch – impair children’s ability to function and learn. When children attend school inadequately nourished, their bodies conserve the limited food energy that is available (Brown, Beardslee, and Prothrow-Stith). As t