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RALEIGH -  Wool E. Bull and fellow mascot Sharky ran around the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina on Saturday to draw some laughs, but they were also there to bring attention to the serious problem of childhood hunger.
Wool E. Bull of the Durham Bulls and Sharky of the Wilmington Sharks helped unveil the new logos for the Food Bank's child nutrition programs that serve thousands of youngsters from the Triangle to Wilmington. The repeated message on Saturday was that many more children need help and that it's only possible if the public helps with donations.
"Children shouldn't have to worry about when they will have their next meal," said Earline Middleton, vice president of agency services and programs for the Food Bank.
More than 28 percent of North Carolina households answered there have been times in the past year they haven't had enough money to buy food, according to the study, Food Hardship in America 2010. In the Food Bank's 34-county service area, 34 percent of the more than 500,000 individuals who are at risk of hunger are children.
Officials from the Food Bank say that they're trying to address the problem with their Kids Meals & More programs that provide food on school days, weekends and in the summer.
At the Kids Cafe program, more than 1,500 children at 25 sites receive meals, nutrition information, mentoring and tutoring. Gideon Adams, the Food Bank's outreach, programs and evaluation manager, said they'd like to expand to 30 to 35 sites.
In the weekend Power Pack program, volunteers fill backpacks with food that's given to children so they'll have enough to eat over the weekend. In 2010, the program provided 141,550 backpacks.
"It's really hard for children to focus on learning when their stomachs are growling," said Louella Rutledge of Walnut Grove United Methodist Church in Hurdle Mills, which provides backpacks for students at three Orange County schools.
Rutledge said that so many students can use the backpacks that social workers are focusing on the children most in need.
Over the summer, the Food Bank's renamed Kids Summer Meals program provides low-income children with free breakfasts and lunches to cover the period during summer vacation when they don't have access to school meals. The program served more than 85,000 meals last year.
Middleton said that while people talk about childhood obesity in North Carolina, they shouldn't also forget the many children who get don't enough food.
"Hunger is no longer just the person standing on the side of the road holding up a sign," she said. "It could be the child next to you at school." |
Vaughn, a former New Hanover High School standout returns to the Sharks in 2012. In 11 appearances, starting eight games, Vaughn finished with a 3-2 record and a 3.71 ERA. Vaughn struck out 24 hitters in 53.1 innings of action in his first season of summer collegiate baseball. A sophomore at Wingate University, Vaughn was born and raised in Wilmington.
