Child Hunger: A Problem Bigger than a Backpack

Child Hunger: A Problem Bigger than a BackPack

September is Hunger Action Month – a time to raise awareness about food insecurity, advocate for change and choose to take action against hunger.

In Vigo County, the data is telling us that those actions must be bigger.

The Numbers Demand Attention
According to the latest Feeding America Map the Meal Gap estimates, 19.7% of Vigo County residents are food insecure. Nearly one in every five of our neighbors. That represents approximately 20,930 individuals who do not consistently have access to enough food to live an active, healthy life.

It is the highest food insecurity rate the county has experienced in the past decade and ranks fourth highest among Indiana's 92 counties. It is well above Indiana's statewide rate of 15.8% and higher than the 18.4% rate across Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank's seven-county service area.

For children, the picture is even more concerning.

More than one in every four children living in Vigo County (26.8%) – that’s approximately 5,830 children right here in our community – is food insecure.

That is the second-highest child food insecurity rate in the entire state of Indiana, and significantly higher than both our seven-county service area rate of 24.3% and the statewide rate of 20.7%.

Those numbers should concern everyone invested in the health and future of this community.

Hunger Does Not Stay at Home
Hunger does not remain neatly outside the classroom door. Inadequate access to food can affect a student's ability to concentrate, learn, maintain energy and regulate behaviors. A student worried about whether there will be dinner at home or whether younger siblings will have enough to eat is carrying a burden into the classroom that is much bigger than homework or a test.

Food security is not separate from educational success. It is foundational to it.

That is why the way we respond to childhood hunger matters.

 When Yesterday’s Solution Doesn’t Fit Today’s Problem
For years, weekend backpack programs have been one of the most recognizable responses to hunger among school-aged children. A small bag of food sent home on Friday can provide a helpful supplement for a student over the weekend. These foods are often easy to prepare and single-serving size.
But we also must acknowledge the limits of that model.

A package of food intended for one child over two days is not a sufficient response to household food insecurity affecting nearly one in five people in our county.

A food-insecure student does not exist independently within the household they return to each afternoon. There may be younger siblings at home. A parent may be skipping meals so their children can eat. A grandparent may share the household. Groceries may need to stretch several more days until the next paycheck.

And for many families, traditional assistance programs do not close that gap. An estimated 45% of Vigo County residents experiencing food insecurity live in households with incomes at or above the threshold used to estimate eligibility for SNAP.

The need reaches far beyond any single demographic or any single weekend.

A Model to Fit the Whole Household
At Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank, feeding people is what we do. For more than 40 years, we have worked to understand hunger, source food as efficiently as possible and move it through a network designed to reach neighbors where they are.

That experience informs our position: the school pantry model provides a more meaningful response to childhood hunger in Vigo County.

A school pantry does not limit assistance to one predetermined bag for one student. It gives students and their families access to groceries that can help feed their entire household.
It also makes every available dollar go further.

Through local retail partnerships and as a Partner Foodbank of the largest food bank network in the country, Feeding America, Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank is proud to be able to provide pantries with food at little or even no cost. And every item of food is distributed at no cost to our neighbors.
That purchasing power matters when resources are limited and the need is significant.

The Demand is Already There
During the 2025-26 school year, West Vigo High School’s pantry distributed 16,457 pounds of food to students and their families. Open for only the last three months of the academic year, Terre Haute North Vigo High School's distributed 9,562 pounds. The amount of food to be distributed this academic year is expected to far exceed the previous 26,019 pounds as Terre Haute South High School will become the newest school pantry beginning September 8.  

The Foodbank also supports pantries at Honey Creek Middle School and Sarah Scott Middle School.
With pantries at North, South and West Vigo, every Vigo County high school student will now have access to a full food pantry model capable of supporting not only a student experiencing hunger, but their household.

Fresh Food to Learn and Thrive
Our work within Vigo County schools extends well beyond those pantry locations.

Last year, Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank distributed 4.5 million pounds of food across our seven-county service area. Proudly, nearly 45% of all food distributed was fresh produce. Fresh fruits, vegetables and bread are among those foods we most want families to have access to, but their short shelf-life means they must move quickly.

When the Foodbank has large quantities of these products available, we distribute them to students throughout the Vigo County School Corporation, regardless of whether an individual school operates a pantry.

Last academic year, that distribution totaled nearly 81,000 pounds of fresh produce, bread and other short shelf-life food for Vigo County students – the transportation and associated costs were entirely covered by Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank.

A Commitment Carried by a Community
Each school pantry is operated entirely by teachers and school staff who organize the severity and importance of the need. They coordinate distributions and help secure the resources needed to keep food available for students and their families – all of this in addition to an already extensive list of responsibilities.

Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank works to lessen that logistical burden wherever possible. Large quantities of food are delivered directly to the schools using the Foodbank’s fleet of trucks, and Foodbank staff assist with unloading and moving the food into the schools. Neither the transportation nor the Foodbank staff time required to provide that support is charged to the schools.

The teacher’s and staff’s willingness to go above and beyond for their students should be recognized. But we also must ask whether a problem of this magnitude should continue to depend so heavily on the extra efforts of individual educators and outside charitable support.

A Response to Equal the Problem
When more than a quarter of children in Vigo County are estimated to be food insecure, hunger is not a peripheral issue affecting a handful of students. It is an educational issue, a family issue and a community issue.

The question is no longer whether hunger is affecting Vigo County students. The data has answered that. The question is whether we are willing to respond at a scale that reflects the seriousness of the problem.

That requires recognizing the difference between providing some help and adequately addressing the need.

A weekend bag can provide a child with additional food for two days. A school pantry can provide meaningful quantities of food for an entire household. It offers choice, stretches limited financial resources further and creates an ongoing source of food within a place students and families already know and trust.

As hunger-relief professionals, Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank believes our responsibility is not simply to continue programs because they are familiar. For more than 40 years, our work has required us to understand the data, recognize changing needs and build responses capable of making the greatest possible impact.

The infrastructure to respond already exists. The food is moving. School pantries are working. And educators have demonstrated their willingness to step forward for their students.

What is needed now is a level of commitment equal to the problem.

This Hunger Action Month, awareness alone is not enough. Neither is a solution designed to address only one child.

The problem is bigger than a backpack.

Our response must be, too.