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March 18, 2025 15 mins

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Ep #84 - Why should a childfree Latina care about starving children? Because empathy is free! And if you're someone who pays attention, you know that a well-educated public is the foundation of a strong society. But here’s the hard truth: hungry kids struggle to learn.

We’re far from being the strong, well-educated society we could be, and that gap is costing us all more than we realize. Just look at what's going on in this country right now.

Here’s a heartbreaking stat: 14 million children in the U.S. woke up this morning without enough food to eat. Let that sink in. 14 million.

That’s why, as part of the global Podcasthon project highlighting worthy causes, this episode is shining a light on the incredible work No Kid Hungry is doing to fight child hunger across the country.

Want to make a difference? Here’s how you can help:

No one can design their best life on an empty stomach. Let’s help tomorrow’s adults build their vida más chévere by making sure they’re fed TODAY.

To get the full show notes, and an episode transcript, go to PauletteErato.com/shownotes. This is episode 84.

Support the show

Like what you hear? Reach out to send your thoughts, and don't forget to grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Buen dia, mi gente, and welcometo La Vida Más Chévere de
Childfree Latinas, the onlySpanglish podcast for childfree
Latinas y Latines, helping usliberate ourselves from the
toxic cultural brainwashing weall grew up with so that we can
design our best lives instead.
I'm your host andresident childfree
Latina, Paulette Erato.

(00:25):
We are tackling a juggernautof toxic cultural norms today.
Because we're examining theintersection of issues like
poverty, inequity, conflict,climate change, gender
discrimination, and weakgovernment and health systems.
Because all of these culminatein keeping people hungry,

(00:47):
but also devoid of options.
The worst is that thisaffects millions of children.
I know you're thinking, what?
Children?
Paulette, this isn't a show forkids or for anyone with kids.
True, but you know what?
We live in a society andkids are a significant
portion of that.

(01:08):
And if we don't take careof one another, and yes,
that includes the kids, whatthe hell is wrong with us?
Let me back up.
If you listen to a lotof podcasts, this week
you might hear aboutsomething called Podcasthon.
It's a global project startedthree years ago in France,
where for one week, podcastsall highlight a charity or

(01:29):
nonprofit of their choice.
This is my first yearparticipating, and I've chosen
the charity No Kid Hungrybecause for one, I think it's
sickening that the supposedrichest country on earth
lets its own citizens starve.
And two, despite being ardentlyand unapologetically childfree,
I've always advocated fora well-educated populace.

(01:54):
But that education starts inchildhood, and mis amigues,
we are failing on that front.
Hungry kids don't learn well,and we have clearly left too
many kids behind, if we'veelected a king, a dictator,
I don't even know where weare in the timeline anymore.
So, I know it seems offbrand for a childfree Latina

(02:16):
show to focus on making surethat no kid goes hungry.
Because kids are theleast of my concern.
No, I don't have kids.
No, I don't want kids.
And you know what?
I'm really tired of seeingkids at places that should
be adult-only spaces,like the local breweries.
But, a well-educated populace isnecessary for a strong society.

(02:39):
And guess what?
We don't have that right now.
What we do have is hungry kidsand a less than stellar society
that is rapidly losing thefew safety nets we do have.
For the last few months,you've heard me rage against
Project 2025's plans, which weare watching play out in real
time before our very eyes.

(03:00):
No Kid Hungry is pushing back onthe dismantling of programs like
SNAP, which is the SupplementalNutrition Assistance Program.
One in five children,that's 20 percent of all
the kids in this country,participate in this program.
I had no idea itwas so widespread.
Did you know?

(03:21):
Because it doesn't appearthat our Congress knows
about that either, sincethey're considering massive
cuts to the program in orderto balance their budget.
A budget, which includes allkinds of pork barrel BS, like
government contracts to the guywhose rockets keep exploding.
A society that doesn't takecare of its most vulnerable

(03:44):
is something we should beashamed to be a part of.
The fact that a charityinitiative like No Kid Hungry
even has to exist is obscene.
But here we are.
I firmly believe we need strongand intelligent adults to run
society, but adults begin aschildren and children can't
learn, and they certainly can'tbecome strong if they don't eat.

(04:05):
It's that simple.
Look, I already pay morein taxes than the average
American because I can't takeadvantage of things like child
tax credits like parents can.
But you know what?
Those credits help liftpeople out of poverty.
And as we learned in episode 69,those credits are also given to
families making up to $400,000.

(04:27):
But most Americans are barelyscraping by in the paycheck
to paycheck cycle, makingit necessary for programs
like No Kid Hungry to exist.
And we're going to comeback to these income
numbers in a moment.
All of this is wild.
So let me hit youwith some facts.

(04:48):
First, let's talk abouthunger versus food insecurity.
According to the No Kid Hungrywebsite, which I'm going to
read from, "hunger is notsomething we can measure.
It's something we experience.
Instead, the U. S. Departmentof Agriculture, USDA,
measures food insecurity.
Households that are foodinsecure are those that
struggle to provide enough foodfor everyone living there at

(05:10):
some point during the year.
A child living in a foodinsecure household might not
get enough food to eat, orher mother might have to skip
meals to feed her, or thefamily may have enough to eat
one month, but not the next.
In all these cases, thatchild is living with hunger.
Data about childhood hunger isreleased annually by the USDA.

(05:35):
If you read the latest figures,you'll see that nearly 14
million children are facinghunger in the United States
today." Today, 14 million!That's appalling.
14 million children woke up thismorning and are wondering, am I

(05:55):
going to be able to eat today?
Will I be able toeat enough today?
And that's through nofault of their own.
They're just kids.
But wait, it gets worse.
Again, reading from the NoKid Hungry website, "the
number of children living withhunger had fallen steadily

(06:15):
over the past decade, but theCorona virus pandemic dealt a
terrible blow to our progressas a nation. One that No Kid
Hungry and other organizationswill work to reverse during
the long recovery ahead."So, they know how to fight
this, they've been doing itsuccessfully up until now.
To continue from theirwebsite, "as you might imagine,

(06:38):
hunger is a problem thatmost often affects children
from low income families.
A common way we measurepoverty is the federal poverty
level, a number that is setby the U. S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
The federal poverty level isthe minimum amount of money a
family needs each year to affordthe basic necessities of life.

(06:59):
Food, clothing, shelter,and transportation.
In 2023, the federalpoverty level was $30,900
for a family of four.
So how many Americanslive in poverty?
43 million people, or 13percent of all Americans.
And according to the 2023Census Bureau data, 10 million

(07:23):
of those are children." Here'sanother really depressing
statistic around 45 percentof deaths among children
under five years of age arelinked to under nutrition.
That makes my heart hurt.
Here's some more databased on the 2023 numbers.

(07:45):
18 percent of households withchildren couldn't afford to buy
enough for the whole family.
Coming back to family income.
We now know that thefederal poverty level is
set at $30,900, right?
And yet 33 percent of foodinsecure households had
incomes at or above 185percent of that number, which

(08:08):
hovers just under $60,000.
So 33 percent of foodinsecure households
make or above $60,000.
That salary isconsidered middle class.
Your own neighbors mightbe one of these families.
Here's more facts.

(08:28):
Of course, food insecurityis even higher in single
parent households.
My own father experiencedthis when it was just
him and my older brother.
He routinely went withoutfood so my brother could eat.
This was all before I was born,but I've heard the stories.
I've seen the picturesof how skinny my dad was.
And don't worry, mybrother is doing great now.

(08:48):
In fact, he's the mostsuccessful of all three of
his siblings, but that'sdue to the sacrifices
our parents had to make.
This was interesting.
Food insecurity is nearlythe same in urban and rural
areas at 15 to 16 percent.
Food deserts exist in the citiesand out in the country, too.

(09:09):
And of course, minoritiesare the most affected
demographic, with 23 percentof Black households and 22
percent of Latine householdsaffected, as opposed to 10
percent of white households.
This is all so heartbreaking.
So how does No Kid Hungry workand what do they actually do?
From their site, "No Kid Hungryis a national campaign run by

(09:32):
Share Our Strength, a nonprofitworking to solve problems of
hunger and poverty in the UnitedStates and around the world.
After 25 years of successfullyinvesting in local nonprofits
and helping find the bestapproaches to eradicating
poverty and hunger, ShareOur Strength launched
No Kid Hungry in 2010.
As a child hunger organization,ending childhood hunger

(09:53):
is our primary focus." SoNo Kid Hungry supports the
main federal programs suchas SNAP, which I mentioned
earlier, but also WIC and theNational School Lunch Programs.
They also focus their effortson other critical programs like
the School Breakfast Program,National Summer Meals Program,
After School Meals Program.

(10:14):
See how much of this iscentered around schools?
But let's get back to one ofthose programs that Congress
is looking to slash so Elon canhave more rocket money to burn.
This is also from the NoKid Hungry website, "the
Supplemental Nutrition Program,SNAP, sometimes known as
food stamps, provides lowincome families with money

(10:36):
to purchase food each month.
Why is SNAP so important?
SNAP is one of the mosteffective and efficient
federal programs, as well asone of the most responsive,
providing additionalassistance to needy families
during economic downturns.
It's also one ofthe most needed.

(10:56):
42 million Americans rely onSNAP benefits to buy food each
month, according to the USDA.
Two thirds of those benefitsgo to households with
children." But one third goesto households without children.
And that could be oneof my own listeners.
By the way, do you knowhow the school lunch

(11:17):
programs were started?
I'm in a podcasting programthrough the Association of
Independence in Radio, orAIR, and my fellow cohort
member, Dr. Cassandre Dunbar,turned me on to this fact.
On her podcast, Be Well Sis,she recently interviewed
Toya Coleman, which I'lllink in the show notes.
It is an excellent listen,please do go check it out.

(11:38):
And they talked abouthow the Black Panthers
started feeding childrenbreakfast before school.
Yeah, in 1969, one of thesocial outreach programs
that the Black Panther Partystarted was a breakfast
program at a church in Oakland.
Of course, you know,I fell down the rabbit
hole researching this.
And here's what I found.
Quote, "at its peak, the BlackPanther Party fed thousands

(12:01):
of children per day in atleast 45 programs," end quote.
This is from anarticle on the History.
com site.
But due to nasty politicsand racism, the FBI under
J. Edgar Hoover was givencarte blanche to destroy
these programs nationwide.
This also emboldenedlocal police departments.
Police departments, which welearned in episode 74 with

(12:24):
Angela Chavez, were bornfrom the Fraternal Order
of the Brothers, which backin the day were blatantly
used for racist purposes.
The PD in Chicago wentso far as destroying food
and urinating on it, in atleast one known instance.
Disgusting doesn'teven begin to cover it.

(12:45):
The government would ratherhave seen children starve
and struggle because itkept whites at the top
of the supremacy pyramid.
Sound familiar?
The USDA was also runningfood programs around the same
time, but their efforts didn'ttake off until the Black
Panther's efforts were ending.
And in 1975,according to History.

(13:06):
com, the schoolbreakfast program was
permanently authorized.
And that brings us back tothe No Kid Hungry campaign.
So, maybe you're askingyourself, what can I do
to make a difference?
The good news isthere's several ways.
First and foremost,you can donate directly
to No Kid Hungry.
Of course, there's going tobe a link in the show notes.

(13:28):
Your contribution, whether it'sfive bucks or 50, it can all
make a real impact because thatmoney goes directly to ensuring
that a child has food that theyneed and the chance to succeed.
Yay.
But donations are notthe only way to help.
You can share the freeresources that No Kid Hungry

(13:48):
has on their website withpeople who may need them.
You can volunteer at foodbanks or community centers,
community mutual aid!This is what we saw at the
height of the wildfires, peopletaking care of each other.
You can also support campaignsthat fight for policies that
protect children's welfare.
Every action, no matter howsmall, contributes to creating

(14:11):
a better world for these peoplewho are going to become adults.
All of us can ensure thata child has access to
nutritious meals, a strongeducation, and a chance to
grow into their full potentialas a smart, well-adapted,
fulfilled, and thriving adult.

(14:32):
Because remember, an educatedchild becomes an educated adult
less likely to be brainwashedby the toxic cultural norms
we've all grown up in.
Just like you, and me.
Which is somethingwe should all want.
That's why we're here.
And that's also whyNo Kid Hungry is here.

(14:52):
So I hope you'll check them out.
And if you're curious aboutPodcasthon, I'll also leave a
link in the show notes for that,so you can discover all the
other shows that are dedicatingsome of their resources to
worthy causes this week.
And that, misamigas, is a burrito.
Hey, mira.
If this episode made you feelsome kind of way, dígame.

(15:14):
DM me on Instagram or sendme a text, you can do that
right from your phone.
If you wanna be a guest onthe show and put your story
out there too, check outthe guest form on my website
at pauletteerato.com/guest.
Yep.
Just my name,pauletteerato.com/guest.
Y no se te olvide quehay más perks when when

(15:35):
you join the newsletter.
Todos estos links estánen los show notes.
Muchísimas gracias foryour support, y hasta la
próxima vez, cuídate bien.
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