Monday 15 January 2024

When school’s out, millions of kids go hungry

 When school’s out, millions of kids go hungry

A A record 21.7 million American kids get free or reduced-price lunch during school. But when summer vacation starts, most of them go without this essential, federally funded benefit. Fewer than 4 million kids – or just 18% of those in the school lunch program – are fed through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s summer food program. While that’s a record number for the 40-year-old initiative, many advocates and government officials say more needs to be done.

B “In the summer, when those school meals disappear, children find themselves hungry and with few options,” said Duke Storen, a senior director at Share Our Strength, which aims to end child hunger. “It impacts their health and well-being and contributes to learning loss.” One of the top hurdles for the summer meals effort is the federal requirement that the kids receive the food at an approved location and eat it on-site. The rationale is to ensure that the children are the ones actually consuming the meals. But it’s not easy for kids to get to the meal sites, especially in suburbia, where poverty is growing. Also, the weather can be a factor, as can violence in certain cities. The increased number of children in need has prompted some local officials to try new ways to reach them in the summer months. They are bringing meals to more locations through buses or trucks and adding activities to draw the kids there.

C Traditionally, the city provided federally funded summer meals at about 70 recreation centers and camps. This year, it launched GrubUp, which will expand its reach to 34 pools, playgrounds, libraries, and other new sites through a food truck. Funded by $90,000 in grants, the truck will also attend festivals and other community events. Oftentimes, it will accompany the Roving Art Cart, which traverses the city offering arts and crafts programs for kids.

D “Where we can find the kids, we are going to take the meals to them,” said Jim Griffin, director of Pittsburgh’s parks and recreation department, which serves up to two free meals a day at most of its locations. Another new activity aimed at attracting and feeding children over the summer is the Kids Cook program, sponsored by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. In addition to receiving their summer meal, the children will learn about healthy eating and make treats to take home, such as black bean salsa, banana pancakes, flatbread, and granola bars. It's the first time the food bank has offered Kids Cook when school is out of session.

E Through these efforts, city officials hope to boost the number of children receiving meals by 10% to at least 7,600 this summer. Still, that means only three of 10 Pittsburgh kids in the school lunch program will receive meals over the summer.

Adjusted to (1)

rationale – důvod

boost – zvýšit

 

1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.

1 Children in the suburbs are hungry in the summer

2 Meals are offered in the centres and camps

3 Children are taught about healthy diet

4 Still only 30% children will get their meals

5 Introduction

 

2) Read the article and answer the questions.

1 Where do children in need in the US take their meals during the summer?

2 Where do they get food in the summer?

3 What factors influence their starvation?

4 Who helps starving children? How?

5 How many children might be helped by the project?

 

3) Explain the following words and phrases.

1 summer vacation

2 learning loss

3 poverty is growing

4 children in need

5 recreation centers and camps

 

4) Answer the following questions.

Who are children in need? What is the life in the suburbs like? What kind of problems do the people have? Are there any similar places in Jihlava or other towns? Does our school cooperate with excluded localities? How?

 

Source:

(1)

LUHBI, Tami. When school’s out, millions of kids go hungry. CNN Money [online]. 2015 [cit. 2015-09-20]. Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/22/n

Sunday 25 September 2016

My placement

Terms/Years
Placement once a week
Four-week placement
Three-day placement
One day placement
Long-term friends
Projects
Volunteering
Organisations - type, financing, equipment, staff
Your activities/work in the organisation
New skills, knowledge, abilities
Problems
Pluses and minuses
Connection with thesis

Sunday 25 October 2015

Countryside or town - video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6oYO_W7cM0

City and countryside

City vs. Countryside

Looking for a good place to settle is not easy like you finish your homework or your job. I lived in the countryside until 12, and then my family moved to a big city. Thus, I have experienced the conflicting living in the countryside and a big city. By comparing and contrasting my own experience living in the countryside and one in a big city, I would prefer someday to live in a big city because of the modern life, high education, and good health care.
First of all, living in a big city is more modern than one in the countryside. In the countryside, the life is very peaceful and safe. For example, people living in the countryside don't have to worry much about how their life looks. They just go to work and make enough money to support their family. Also, everything in the countryside seems to be quiet, and the neighbourhood is very friendly and generous, too. They can share each other everything such as fruits, foods, and clothing. Therefore, people can enjoy themselves without annoying from anything. Besides, nobody can deny the fresh air in the countryside. The less transportation and more places such as parks and gardens make the countryside become more peaceful and healthy.
Although living in a big city is not peaceful and quiet like living in the countryside, people feel more comfortable and convenient. For instance, if you want to go somewhere or to save your money from gasoline, there are lots of public transportations such as the bus, railroad, and train which are always available to support people. Additionally, a big city is often a place where many problems like robbery, violation, rape, etc... occur mostly in a city, but the security is always available and ready to solve any problem. On the contrary, people living in the countryside lack of this service; for example, if they are in danger, who will be there to save them immediately? The security has to spend at least a half an hour to be there, I guess. In short, living in the countryside is more peaceful and none-stressful, but people living a big city usually have enough supporting services for them.
The second obvious reason why I prefer to live in a big city is the high education. Everyone wants to have a good job to get more money, and one of the best ways to succeed is education. Nowadays there are a lot of famous universities and colleges, and these schools totally locate in a big city. Most of people try to attend these schools to gain their knowledge, so they tend to move and live in a big city. Also, education in a big city supports the high technology that helps students and teachers easily have a successful academic. For example, the increase in the libraries, laps, internet, etc... help students get information anytime they want.
On the contrary, education in the countryside is a serious problem. High school graduation rates in the countryside are always lower than one in a big city. Many people would think that since the students are not intelligent, the graduation rates are low. Nevertheless, it is not true in this case. Students living in the countryside are even more diligent than ones in a big city because there is less entertainment centre for them, so the only thing student should do is to do their homework. However, just a few students succeed in the countryside. The reason must be the lack of good education. The schools didn't support enough reference books in the library, computers, or even good teachers. These lead to why people living in a big city gain more knowledge than ones in the countryside.
The last reason I choose to live in a big city is about health care. Nowadays in the countryside, government established more health care such as the hospital, clinic, and medical station, and people can get there easily and quickly when they are in trouble. However, what people really need is not the number of health care, but the quality of it. For instance, if you are staying at home, and your heart attack is suddenly relapsed, I bet the health care will take long to put you in a hospital. Also, the countryside hospitals can't be sure whether or not they can rescue you because of the lack of the high and modern medical machines. The result is eventually that you still need to be transferred to a big modern hospital in a big city.
A big city is not only a big modern city originally but also a face of a country, so government always supports the best ways and medical services for people. For example, if a country is suffered by a spreading virus such as the swine flu, I believe that people living in a big city will be able to get the vaccine first. Besides, there are many modern medical machines and good doctors that can easily determine what disease a patient gets and then expose the best ways to solve it. All of the reasons about health care above can help us understand how well the health care in a big city is.
In conclusion, people have their own choices to decide to live in the countryside or a big city. As I can see, most of old people probably tend to live in the countryside because they like to have peaceful life and enjoy themselves with the fresh air and quietness. However, other people want their own life comfortable and convenient. For me or even my future family, I would prefer to live in a big city because of the modern life, high education, and good health care.

Describe your town/village, life there, cultural/work/transport/shopping possibilities.
Describe the town of your studies. Did/do you like it?
Would you like to live in the city or village more? Give 10 reasons.

Write 10 advantages, 10 disadvantages of a town/village.