The Street: Educating The Next Generation
If there’s one thing I remember about my childhood, it’s the quintessential show for children — Sesame Street. I’m pretty sure my parents remember even more about it because they haven’t let me forget the hours I spent watching those Muppets sing and dance down the street known as Sesame. I can pretty much guarantee that my love of reading and learning can be directly traced back to this show. Proof that it works on your kids, parents.
But recently, twenty-some years after I stopped watching Sesame Street, I turned it back on to watch a special episode on a topic that is near and dear to our hearts here at Giving Children Hope. In October, Sesame Street aired a primetime, one-hour episode dedicated to the topic of poverty and hunger.
The Sesame Street crew and viewers are introduced to Lily, a brand-new Muppet resident. When Elmo first meets Lily, she is volunteering at a food drive; Elmo is considerably confused about why they’re gathering food, who gets the food and what a “food pantry” is. Lily patiently talks him through it, revealing along the way that she gets meals at school and her family gets food from the food pantry because her parents are out of work and they don’t always know if they’re going to have food or not.
This freaks Elmo out because he has never had to think about whether or not he’ll be able to eat. For being such a young Muppet, Lily is an old soul and wise to the ways of the world. She carefully explains to Elmo that many people use the food pantry, and with the help of the adults on the street, explains that “food insecurity” (not knowing where your next meal will come from) is more common than anyone knows. People just don’t talk about it.
This sad reality is becoming more and more represented in popular culture. Last year on the hit show Glee, one of the characters had a story arc that revealed he and his family was homeless because of job loss. It was a storyline that was never really fleshed out but it touched on many relevant topics including the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, families living in motel rooms, and the stigmas, fear and shame that these children face.
In my work here at GCHope, I’ve learned more statistics on homeless children than I ever thought existed. According to U.S. Census Data, 16 million children are living below the poverty line in the United States. A recent study by the National Center on Family Homelessness revealed that 1.6 million children in the United States are homeless and there are now nearly 28,000 homeless children in Orange County alone. Those facts are sometimes so overwhelming that it’s hard to process what the numbers actually mean. The first time I heard the statistics about homeless children in Orange County, I was stunned. It would be impossible to believe if I didn’t see it firsthand in our work with We’ve Got Your Back.
Sesame Street has a way of explaining difficult topics in a way that makes sense to children, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I was in tears several times while watching this episode. Hearing a child talk about the scariness of not knowing whether or not they’ll have a meal today is heart-breaking – puppet or not!
We’ve Got Your Back is a program dearly beloved both by GCHope staff and our supporters. We want the Lilys of our community to be kids and to laugh and run and play, not worry about whether they’ll have a meal today. Most of us know where our next meal is going to come from, but I encourage you to find out how you can help those who do not. Lily explained to Elmo that some people donate their time, money, or food, and of course those are needed. But even though it’s been a few months since I watched the show, the one thing that stood out the most to me was that for Lily, it was most important to simply have a friend.
GCHope realizes that just like Lily, these children need to know that they have a support system. That’s why we work to build relationships with the schools and the school districts to ensure that these children know they are not alone. We want to be more than just advocates. We want to build relationships in order to build a better community.
This blog post was contributed by Jessica Rickerts, Assistant to the President & CEO at Giving Children Hope. Jessica has been a part of the GCHope family for 4 years and holds the We’ve Got Your Back program dear to her heart.
The Street: Educating The Next Generation
If there’s one thing I remember about my childhood, it’s the quintessential show for children — Sesame Street. I’m pretty sure my parents remember even more about it because they haven’t let me forget the hours I spent watching those Muppets sing and dance down the street known as Sesame. I can pretty much guarantee that my love of reading and learning can be directly traced back to this show. Proof that it works on your kids, parents.
But recently, twenty-some years after I stopped watching Sesame Street, I turned it back on to watch a special episode on a topic that is near and dear to our hearts here at Giving Children Hope. In October, Sesame Street aired a primetime, one-hour episode dedicated to the topic of poverty and hunger.
The Sesame Street crew and viewers are introduced to Lily, a brand-new Muppet resident. When Elmo first meets Lily, she is volunteering at a food drive; Elmo is considerably confused about why they’re gathering food, who gets the food and what a “food pantry” is. Lily patiently talks him through it, revealing along the way that she gets meals at school and her family gets food from the food pantry because her parents are out of work and they don’t always know if they’re going to have food or not.
This freaks Elmo out because he has never had to think about whether or not he’ll be able to eat. For being such a young Muppet, Lily is an old soul and wise to the ways of the world. She carefully explains to Elmo that many people use the food pantry, and with the help of the adults on the street, explains that “food insecurity” (not knowing where your next meal will come from) is more common than anyone knows. People just don’t talk about it.
This sad reality is becoming more and more represented in popular culture. Last year on the hit show Glee, one of the characters had a story arc that revealed he and his family was homeless because of job loss. It was a storyline that was never really fleshed out but it touched on many relevant topics including the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, families living in motel rooms, and the stigmas, fear and shame that these children face.
In my work here at GCHope, I’ve learned more statistics on homeless children than I ever thought existed. According to U.S. Census Data, 16 million children are living below the poverty line in the United States. A recent study by the National Center on Family Homelessness revealed that 1.6 million children in the United States are homeless and there are now nearly 28,000 homeless children in Orange County alone. Those facts are sometimes so overwhelming that it’s hard to process what the numbers actually mean. The first time I heard the statistics about homeless children in Orange County, I was stunned. It would be impossible to believe if I didn’t see it firsthand in our work with We’ve Got Your Back.
Sesame Street has a way of explaining difficult topics in a way that makes sense to children, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I was in tears several times while watching this episode. Hearing a child talk about the scariness of not knowing whether or not they’ll have a meal today is heart-breaking – puppet or not!
We’ve Got Your Back is a program dearly beloved both by GCHope staff and our supporters. We want the Lilys of our community to be kids and to laugh and run and play, not worry about whether they’ll have a meal today. Most of us know where our next meal is going to come from, but I encourage you to find out how you can help those who do not. Lily explained to Elmo that some people donate their time, money, or food, and of course those are needed. But even though it’s been a few months since I watched the show, the one thing that stood out the most to me was that for Lily, it was most important to simply have a friend.
GCHope realizes that just like Lily, these children need to know that they have a support system. That’s why we work to build relationships with the schools and the school districts to ensure that these children know they are not alone. We want to be more than just advocates. We want to build relationships in order to build a better community.
This blog post was contributed by Jessica Rickerts, Assistant to the President & CEO at Giving Children Hope. Jessica has been a part of the GCHope family for 4 years and holds the We’ve Got Your Back program dear to her heart.
