The Dude Is Up for Breakfast: Jeff Bridges’ New Push on Childhood Hunger
States frantically trying to compensate for the recent cuts in food stamps were accused by Speaker John Boehner Thursday of “gaming the system” by boosting home heating assistance to trigger additional food stamps for residents.“It’s not a sexy issue—and people don’t like to think they live in a country where one in five children go hungry. Those of us who are living fun lives don’t like to acknowledge it.” Bill Shore, founder of Share Our Strength, the nonprofit sponsoring the breakfast initiative, says that by keeping the focus on children—hungry children—he hopes to rebuild the partisan support that existed when Democrat George McGovern and Republican Bob Dole co-sponsored food-stamp legislation and Republican governors like Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, John Engler of Michigan, and George Pataki of New York were its biggest advocates.
Governors are key to ending food insecurity, and a handful of them are making it a priority, with California, Colorado, Maryland, and Arkansas taking the lead on the Breakfast After the Bell program.
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