With more than 65 percent of schools closed across America due to the coronavirus outbreak, actors Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams are launching #SAVEWITHSTORIES to benefit Save the Children and Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign to help make sure kids can learn and get the nutrition they need while they’re out of school and every day of the year.
Across the nation, 57 million students across the country depend on schools for learning and development and 30 million children eat school meals. The actors will share their favorite books and stories on Instagram and Facebook – and ask their friends to do the same – to drive donations to Save the Children and No Kid Hungry coronavirus response. The nonprofits are committed to meeting the most urgent needs of children at this time, including providing nutritious meals and distributing books and learning resources in America’s poorest communities.
Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company is a founding partner of #SAVEWITHSTORIES and is securing numerous titles from its highly regarded library to be featured as part of the initiative. Scholastic is committed to its mission of helping kids learn and proud to be supporting children and families.
As the national leader in early childhood education, Save the Children will provide age-appropriate books, learning activities, games and toys to children whose schools are closed in some of rural America’s poorest communities through the #SAVEWITHSTORIES initiative. In addition, Save the Children launched Coronavirus and Kids: Resources from Save the Children, providing free educational resources and tips for families across America.
“We are tremendously grateful to Jennifer and Amy for supporting this critical effort to help children who are most affected by these unprecedented school closures,” said Betsy Zorio, vice president of Save the Children’s U.S. Programs & Advocacy. “Wide-scale learning loss could be among the biggest impacts coronavirus has on children in America. The earliest years are the most important for a child’s development, and missing out on learning now could have a devastating impact on their growth.”
Millions of vulnerable children are losing the healthy meals they depend on as the coronavirus closes schools nationwide. No Kid Hungry has a plan to ensure they have access to meals by providing emergency grants to food banks and community groups, urging Congress to boost SNAP funding for low-income families, diverting resources to the hardest-hit communities, helping families find meals while schools are closed and continuing its work to ensure every kid gets three meals a day.
The impact of the coronavirus will be compounded for kids living with hunger, as schools close and school meals disappear," said Billy Shore, Founder and Executive Chair of Share Our Strength. “But there is no shortage of food in this country, and this is a problem we can solve. Thanks to Jennifer and Amy’s leadership, and support from the American public, we can raise the critical funds needed to help kids continue to get the healthy meals they need.”
