Aug 22, 2022
#WearOrangeWednesday Toolkit: Help Raise Awareness of Childhood Hunger on September 14
Wear Orange Wednesday raises awareness of childhood hunger in Montana and takes place Wednesday, Sept. 14th during national Hunger Action Month. It’s an annual event of Montana No Kid Hungry. Raising awareness is crucial to ending hunger — 66% of adults don’t think hunger is a problem in their communities.
Please help us spread the word by promoting the event, wearing orange on Sept. 14th, and snapping and posting a pic of you and/or your group with a Success Sign described below.
Wear Orange Wednesday Success Signs describe work you already do that helps end childhood hunger in Montana. Success signs can also highlight a special action or activity you’re doing. Showing off your work is important—it helps inspire others to take action!
This folder, Sample WOW Signs, contains blank Signs of Success and pre-filled “I helped end childhood hunger in Montana,” Success Signs that can be used for pics, social media, website posts, newsletters, etc. The pre-filled signs contain many ideas for actions people can take—and may already have taken—to end childhood hunger in their communities.
Please consider filling out one or more of these signs and using them for your social media and other outreach and encouraging others to do the same. You and they can highlight current or previous work, take a new action, or highlight the efforts of others in the community. Fill out a Sign of Success and take a pic with your Success Sign while wearing orange. The hashtag for posting the pic is #WearOrangeWednesday. Please post your pic, and ask others to post their pics on Wednesday, Sept. 14th.
In addition to these Signs of Success, Feeding America also has tools and activities here.
If you need additional information for posts, e-mails, stories, etc., here is some material that may be useful to you:
Wear Orange Wednesday is an annual event created by Montana No Kid Hungry to raise awareness about the hunger that exists among Montana’s children. Approximately half of all Montana children qualify for Medicaid and related programs, according to 2021 data from the Children’s Defense Fund. During the school year, these children rely on school meals for much of their nutrition. Summers are particularly hard on these children–82 percent of Montana children who qualify for free and reduced meals are not able to participate in Summer Nutrition programs due to the low number of Summer Meal Sites in the state. Source
Raising awareness about hunger in our local communities is critical. In a number of studies ranging from 2011-2018, an average of 65 percent of American adults stated hunger is a problem in the United States, but 66 percent said it was not a problem in their particular communities (e.g. Hart Research Associates, 2011 and 2014; Feeding America, 2017; Ward et al, 2018). But hunger is everywhere, as demonstrated by this pre-Covid map of Montana counties created by Feeding America. Source
Thanks for all you do to help address and end childhood hunger in Montana, and thanks in advance for raising awareness of childhood hunger in Montana with your posts and activities on Wear Orange Wednesday, this September 14th.