Iowa City High students raise awareness about teen hunger

IOWA CITY - It's hard to learn on an empty stomach.

Which is why G! World, an after-school mentorship group for minority junior high and high school girls, decided to tackle teen hunger as its annual service project.

'When I'm hungry I don't pay attention to anything,” said Tasabieh Hassan, an Iowa City High School junior. 'For kids going through that every day, it would be hard to focus.”

One of seven Johnson County residents is in need of food assistance, Feeding America reported in 2013. The 14.2 percent of Johnson County residents who are food insecure is greater than the statewide rate of 12.7 percent, but lower than the national rate of 15.8 percent, according to Iowa State University Extension and Outreach's Poverty and Food Needs for Johnson County.

G! World created a video, now posted to YouTube and Facebook, that combines hunger statistics, hashtags, music and their own faces to show viewers how the public can help relieve teen hunger.

The girls are talking with school administrators about starting a food pantry at City High, where 37 percent of students receive free or reduced-cost lunch. Many Iowa City elementary schools send food backpacks home with children on weekends, but those programs stop when a child gets to junior high.

'I think it has a lot of tremendous possibilities,” City High Principal John Bacon said about a school food pantry. 'But we've got to figure out the logistics.”

Two Des Moines high schools opened food pantries in January and the University of Iowa Student Government plans to do the same.

The G! World members would like a food pantry to be located in a private part of City High so students wouldn't have to be embarrassed about getting food. The girls eventually would like to add toiletries, such as deodorant, toothbrushes and shampoo, said Shakari Scott, a City High junior.

The Johnson County Hunger Task Force identified a high school food pantry or increased backpack programs as one solution to reduce hunger. Other task force recommendations include a mobile food pantry, meal program in Coralville and carts to help people without cars haul food. The group will meet with the Board of Supervisors on May 18 to discuss funding, said Lynette Jacoby, county social services coordinator.