New Research from HelloFresh Sounds the Alarm on Rising Student Hunger Ahead of Spring Break

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New Research from HelloFresh Sounds the Alarm on Rising Student Hunger Ahead of Spring Break

2025-03-17 22:31 Last Updated At：22:51

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 17, 2025--

HelloFresh, the world’s leading meal kit provider, and No Kid Hungry, a campaign focused on ending childhood hunger, announced today striking new research from America’s teachers and a new campaign, called No Breaks for Hunger, to raise awareness of and help address the urgent issue of student hunger, especially during school breaks.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250317843890/en/

For many kids across the US, March and April mark spring break—a time that should be reserved for fun and a much-deserved break from learning. However, for a staggering number of kids who rely on in-school meals, school breaks are characterized by worry over where their next meal is coming from. This issue is particularly urgent for the nearly 14 million kids who live in households facing food insecurity, meaning they do not have access to enough food for every family member to lead a healthy life.

”With the rising cost of everyday essentials, like rent and food, it’s evident that many families are struggling—and that means their kids are too,” said Jeffrey Yorzyk, senior director of sustainability at HelloFresh. “These troubling insights from America’s teachers make one thing clear: It’s time to act with urgency. That’s why we’re proud to continue our partnership with No Kid Hungry to address this serious and growing issue and do our part to help kids to thrive in school and at home.”

This spring break, HelloFresh is taking action to support the teachers who are going above and beyond to help their hungry students and to ease the burden placed on these students’ families during school breaks. In partnership with local nonprofits and public school districts, HelloFresh will support students and families with free meal kits featuring wholesome, family-friendly recipes ahead of spring break in Brooklyn, NY; Newark, NJ; and Buckeye, AZ.

Nationwide, HelloFresh is encouraging families to apply for LimeAid grants, which offer 12 weeks of free meal kits. Because teachers see the impact of hunger firsthand, HelloFresh also is calling on educators to nominate students’ families in need and, in turn, enter for a chance to win a gift card for classroom supplies and resources.

“Teachers are sounding the alarm; the current state of child hunger is unacceptable,” said Allison Shuffield, managing director of corporate partnerships at Share Our Strength, the organization behind the No Kid Hungry campaign. “These findings really show the extent of the child hunger crisis in America and how it’s keeping kids from reaching their full potential. With the support of partners like HelloFresh, we are committed to working across sectors to strengthen and protect programs that ensure kids get the nutrition they need all year round.”

Last year, HelloFresh and No Kid Hungry worked together to address the summer hunger gap through the 13 for 13 Million campaign, an effort to raise awareness of the issue and provide critical support to parents and families in need. With the help of trusted partners, HelloFresh hosted distribution events and pop-up pantries in 13 regions across the country and pointed families to critical resources, like summer EBT benefits.

To learn more about how HelloFresh and No Kid Hungry are fighting childhood food insecurity and to join in the action, please visit hellofresh.com/pages/nokidhungry.

ABOUT HELLOFRESH
HelloFresh is the world’s leading meal-kit company, providing customers with fresh, high-quality ingredients to cook delicious meals at home. By delivering pre-portioned ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes directly to customers' doors, HelloFresh helps busy individuals and families enjoy home-cooked meals without the hassle of meal planning and grocery shopping. HelloFresh was voted the Most Trusted Meal Kit Delivery Service in America from 2021 through 2023 by Newsweek. For more information, visit www.hellofresh.com or follow HelloFresh on Facebook, X, Instagram, or TikTok.

ABOUT HELLOFRESH GROUP
The HelloFresh Group is a global food solutions group and the world's leading meal kit provider. The HelloFresh Group consists of eight brands that provide customers with high quality food and recipes for different meal occasions including HelloFresh, Green Chef, EveryPlate, Chefs Plate, Factor, Youfoodz, The Pets Table and Good Chop. The Company was founded in Berlin in November 2011 and operates in the USA, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Australia, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, France, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Ireland and Spain. In Q1 2024 HelloFresh Group delivered over 272 million meals globally. HelloFresh SE went public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in November 2017 and is currently traded on the MDAX (Mid-Cap German Stock Market Index). For more information, visit www.hellofreshgroup.com.

ABOUT NO KID HUNGRY
No child should go hungry in America. But millions of kids in the United States live with hunger. No Kid Hungry is working to end childhood hunger by helping launch and improve programs that give all kids the healthy food they need to thrive. This is a problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization committed to ending hunger and poverty.

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill more than 400 and shatter ceasefire with Hamas

2025-03-19 02:29 Last Updated At：02:31

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing more than 400 Palestinians, local health officials said, and shattering a ceasefire in place since January with its deadliest bombardment in a 17-month war with Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes, which killed mostly women and children, after Hamas refused Israeli demands to change the ceasefire agreement. Officials said the operation was open-ended and expected to expand. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel’s actions.

The Israeli military ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza and head toward the center of the territory, indicating that Israel could soon launch renewed ground operations. The new campaign comes as aid groups warn supplies are running out two weeks after Israel cut off all food, medicine, fuel and other goods to Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians.

“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Netanyahu’s office said.

The attack during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan could signal the full resumption of a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised concerns about the fate of the roughly two dozen hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive.

The renewal of the campaign against Hamas, which receives support from Iran, came as the U.S. and Israel stepped up attacks this week across the region. The U.S. launched deadly strikes against Iran-allied rebels in Yemen, while Israel has targeted Iran-backed militants in Lebanon and Syria.

A senior Hamas official said Netanyahu’s decision to return to war amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages. Izzat al-Risheq accused Netanyahu of launching the strikes to save his far-right governing coalition.

Hamas said at least six senior officials were killed in Tuesday’s strikes. Israel said they included the head of Hamas' civilian government, its justice minister and two security agency chiefs. There were no reports of any attacks by Hamas several hours after the bombardment.

But Yemen's Houthi rebels fired rockets toward Israel for the first time since the ceasefire began. The volley set off sirens in Israel's southern Negev desert but was intercepted before it reached the country's territory, the military said.

The strikes came as Netanyahu faces mounting domestic pressure, with mass protests planned over his handling of the hostage crisis and his decision to fire the head of Israel’s internal security agency. His latest testimony in a long-running corruption trial was canceled after the strikes.

The strikes appeared to give Netanyahu a political boost. A far-right party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir that had bolted the government over the ceasefire announced Tuesday it was rejoining.

The main group representing families of the hostages accused the government of backing out of the ceasefire. “We are shocked, angry and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

Strikes across Gaza pounded homes, sparked fires in a tent camp outside the southern city of Khan Younis and hit at least one school-turned-shelter.

After two months of relative calm during the ceasefire, stunned Palestinians found themselves once again digging loved ones out of rubble and holding funeral prayers over the dead at hospital morgues.

“Nobody wants to fight,” Nidal Alzaanin, a resident of Gaza City, said. “Everyone is still suffering from the previous months.”

A hit on a home in Rafah killed 17 members of one family, according to the European Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included five children, their parents, and another father and his three children. Another in Gaza City killed 27 members of a family, half of them women and children, including a 1-year-old, according to a list of the dead put out by Palestinian medics.

At Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, patients lay on the floor, some screaming. A young girl cried as her bloody arm was bandaged. Wounded children overwhelmed the pediatric ward, said Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a volunteer with Medical Aid for Palestinians aid group.

She said she helped treat a 6-year-old girl with internal bleeding. When they pulled away her curly hair, they realized shrapnel had also penetrated the left side of her brain, leaving her paralyzed on the right side. She was brought in with no ID, and “we don't know if her family survived,” Haj-Hassan said.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the strikes killed at least 404 people and wounded more than 560. Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the ministry’s records department, said at least 263 of those killed were women or children under 18. He described it as the deadliest day in Gaza since the start of the war.

The war has killed over 48,500 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced 90% of Gaza’s population. The Health Ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and militants but says over half of the dead have been women and children.

The war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefires or other deals, with Israeli forces rescuing only eight and recovering dozens of bodies.

The White House blamed Hamas for the renewed fighting. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group “could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war.”

The ceasefire deal that the U.S. helped broker, however, did not require Hamas to release more hostages to extend the halt in fighting beyond its first phase.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the unfolding operation, said Israel was striking Hamas’ military, leaders and infrastructure and planned to expand the operation beyond air attacks.

The official accused Hamas of attempting to rebuild and plan new attacks. Hamas militants and security forces quickly returned to the streets in recent weeks after the ceasefire went into effect. Hamas on Tuesday denied planning new attacks.

Under the ceasefire that began in mid-January, Hamas released 25 hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for more than 1,700 Palestinian prisoners as agreed in the first phase.

But Israel balked at entering negotiations over a second phase. Under the agreement, phase two was meant to bring the freeing of the remaining 24 living hostages, an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says Hamas also holds the remains of 35 captives.

Instead, Israel demanded Hamas release half of the remaining hostages in return for a ceasefire extension and a vague promise to eventually negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas refused, demanding the two sides follow the original deal, which called for the halt in fighting to continue during negotiations over the second phase.

The deal had largely held, though Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians who the military says approached its troops or entered unauthorized areas. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate the next steps.

Israel says it will not end the war until it destroys Hamas’ governing and military capabilities and frees all hostages — two goals that could be incompatible.

A full resumption of the war would allow Netanyahu to avoid the tough trade-offs called for in the second phase and the thorny question of who would govern Gaza.

It would also shore up his coalition, which depends on far-right lawmakers who want to depopulate Gaza and rebuild Jewish settlements there.

Released hostages have repeatedly implored the government to press ahead with the ceasefire to return all remaining captives. Tens of thousands of Israelis have joined protests calling for a ceasefire and return of all hostages.

Federman reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press reporters Mohammad Jahjouh in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip; Abdel Kareem Hana in Gaza City, Gaza Strip; Fatma Khaled in Cairo; and Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war