CRAFT by Under My Host® Issue No. 15 Classics | Page 61

One in 6 kids in the U.S. don’t get the food they need. That’s a startling fact.
Hunger in America isn’t always so easy to see; you may not come face-to-
face with it in your day-to-day, but it’s a real issue affecting far too many
Americans. No Kid Hungry is taking huge strides to help. Below, I spoke with
Jenny Dirksen National Director of Culinary Events, and Allison deBrauw-
ere, Associate, Public Relations and Partnerships for No Kid Hungry, to learn
more about this initiative.
What’s your background and when did
you get involved with No Kid Hungry?
JD: My background is in the kitchen, I start-
ed line cooking in college and completely
fell in love with it. I was fascinated by food
and how to bring people together and
around the table. I had an opportunity in
2000 to lead the kitchen I was working in,
Union Square Hospitality Group.
The group started a department dedicated
to philanthropy and getting the restaurant
involved with different charitable boards.
Sometime between 2003-2005, Jenny served
on the Taste of the Nation committee in NY
and helped them reach fundraising goals,
etc.
After 11 years with Union Square Hospitality
Group she knew she wanted to give back.
She began organizing Taste of the Nation
events, the annual Harvest Dinner, and
NYC’s No Kid Hungry dinner to name a few.
She continued to oversee events which she
did until last year. Now, her focus is on re-
cruiting new chefs into the org., bringing
them from fundraising into advocacy.
exist with hunger are all logistical—like
school breakfast, which is an easy was to
focus on what kids need. In NYC, for the
longest time, breakfast was served univer-
sally, before the first bell of the day. Logis-
tically, could the kids get there before the
bell rang? There was also stigma—will kids
show up? Would kids rather go hungry than
risk social isolation? Yes. Also, families
didn’t know these programs were availa-
ble. We provide awareness and education,
too.
NKH works with families to let them know
these programs are available to their kids.
The offer alternate breakfast programs that
don’t isolate kids, like grab and go meal
times and breakfast served in the class-
room—removing the element of stigma al-
together.
And what about during summer? There’s no
safety net when school’s out of session, and
NKH works with local communities, states,
Tell me a bit about No Kid Hungry and
its initiatives:
We are a national campaign focused on
ending hunger in America, connecting kids
with the food they need every day. We
bring solutions to market. The barriers that
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