Food insecurity is hitting thousands of NC children—and it’s following them into the classroom

More than 580,000 NC children rely on SNAP to help keep food on the table.

On school mornings in North Carolina, some children arrive already exhausted.

School teachers and nurses across the state report seeing the signs: difficulty concentrating, irritability, and complaints of headaches and stomach aches before lunch.

In many cases, the cause is simple—hunger.

“I feel like real hungry is different,” 15-year-old Daishawn said in a No Kids Hungry report. “It’s like when your stomach growls. It’s like when your stomach is almost in pain for me. That’s what real hungry is.”

In the report, 42% of surveyed children from low-income families said they felt sad about not having enough food to eat, while 41% felt anger from the same situation. It’s not a stretch to imagine how those feelings, especially when combined with the deep ache of malnutrition and hunger, can turn into “behavior issues.”

For thousands of families across North Carolina, programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP, help fill the food insecurity gap. According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, over 1.4 million North Carolinians receive critical food assistance. That’s 1 in 8 North Carolinians, including more than 580,000 children.

Experts say hunger remains a persistent problem for many low-income families, and it directly affects how children learn.

While many North Carolina public schools provide free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch, those meals only cover part of the school day. On weekends, holidays, and school breaks, many families rely on programs like SNAP to keep food on the table.

“It’s a consistent pattern of access, of lack of access, and that’s where we see what we call ‘food insecurity.’ It’s a lack of consistent access to healthy, nutritious food,” said L. Ron Pringle, president and CEO of Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, a nonprofit Raleigh-based food bank.

According to data from the nonprofit, disparities with food insecurity exist within Black and Hispanic communities at higher rates of 26% and 22% respectively, compared to white individuals at just 10%.

Research from the National Library of Medicine finds that food insecurity has been identified as “a powerful stressor for families, with significant negative implications for child health and development; these include impacts on physical, social, cognitive, and behavioral development, independent of poverty.”

That reality, Pringle said, is what causes a ripple effect for all.

“It’s a ripple effect because the parents are initially affected. This affects their physical ability to have access to purchase of resources, to purchase food, but the mental strain, the emotional strain that it puts on families and having to deal with the reality of figuring out how they’re going to make ends meet.”

Pringle said that the parents who come to him are eligible and grateful for SNAP. But if they receive a promotion at work that adds “a few cents more an hour,” they are no longer eligible for SNAP benefits.

“Those additional dollars do not replace what they were receiving when they were on SNAP benefits,” he said. “And so now, as they’re trying to grow and become better, they’re finding themselves back in a food insecure position.”

Food banks like Inter-Faith Food Shuttle provide groceries and meals for families across central and eastern North Carolina.

“[Teachers have] seen improvements in their children’s behavior because they’re showing up to school now ready to learn without that variation of where their next meal is going to come from,” Pringle said, referring to the aid the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle provides. “We’re hearing from parents who have been grateful for school pantries and being able to access food at the local school simply because they’re able to make it work when they are still trying to manage their work schedules. That has been a huge relief for many of the parents that we’ve talked to, simply because it was more convenient and gave them greater access to healthy foods.”

But Pringle said charitable food programs alone can not meet the scale of need.

Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America, said SNAP provides nine meals for every one meal distributed by food banks. Feeding America supports tens of millions of people as part of a nationwide network of more than 250 food banks, 20 statewide food bank associations, food pantries and meal programs, and more.

READ MORE: NC food banks can’t fill the hunger gap caused by federal SNAP cuts, nonprofit leaders say

In North Carolina, the SNAP program allows eligible households to purchase groceries using an electronic benefits card at grocery stores and other approved retailers. On average, the NCDHHS said SNAP benefits equal about $5.70 per person per day.

Those benefits help families stretch their food budgets and keep consistent meals on the table. But recent federal policy changes could alter how the program works in the coming years.

New federal legislation made under the Trump administration expands work requirements for some SNAP recipients and shifts additional administrative responsibilities to states. The law could affect more than 100,000 North Carolina residents currently enrolled in the program, according to state officials. The legislation is also expected to reduce federal SNAP funding, part of broader spending changes tied to Trump’s recent tax legislation.

Advocates worry that disruptions to the program could further hurt families already struggling with food costs. For educators and food providers alike, the issue is not just about food for children, it’s about opportunity as well.

“One of the hardest parts of my job is trying to convince people that hunger is a real issue,” Pringle said. “It’s an issue that we all should be concerned with because without food present, we don’t have a community that hopes. We don’t have a community that dreams. We don’t have a community that looks forward to what they want to be and who they want to be. We have children at seven, eight years old, who have the mindsets of adults who are feeling like the world doesn’t care.”

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