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No Child in Maryland Should Go Hungry

At No Kid Hungry, we are committed to ensuring that every kid has 3 healthy meals a day, 365 days a year.

No Kid Hungry Maryland has been working to end childhood hunger in Maryland since 2008. We work with schools as well as national and local agencies to implement policies surrounding after school, summer, and breakfast meal programs that help hungry kids gain access to nutritious meals.

The Problem

We know hunger is a solvable problem, but every day it impacts children’s ability to learn and grow. 1 in 6 children in Maryland live in food-insecure homes. That phrase may sound mild, but it means that those households don’t have enough food for every family member to lead a healthy life.

We have plenty of food in the United States and federal nutrition programs that work together to provide access to meals and groceries for those facing economic hardship; the problem is that not enough kids and families are able to access them. There are large gaps in the number of kids and families that qualify for benefits and those that are receiving them.

How We Can Help

In collaboration with our partners, No Kid Hungry works to ensure all children have access to the federal nutrition programs in their communities.

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No Kid Hungry Maryland Staff 

Ayesha Holmes, No Kid Hungry Director

aholmes@strength.org

Ayesha Bajwa Holmes holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Community Counseling from Johns Hopkins University, and a Certificate in Juvenile Justice and Multi-System Integration from Georgetown University. She has over 25 years of non-profit, human services experience. She is an expert in program development, change management, leadership development and creating innovations that lead to positive outcomes for individuals, youth, families and communities

Ms. Holmes currently serves as the Maryland Director for the No Kid Hungry Campaign at Share our Strength where she works with local and state leaders to promote and execute best practices to end childhood hunger in both school and community-based settings. Prior to joining Share our Strength, Ms. Holmes was the Executive Director of Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, located in Columbia, MD. Grassroots serves as a 24/7 Crisis Center for Behavioral Health and Homelessness. Here she expanded the Center to add an on-demand opioid detox clinic, the first in Howard County.

Kara Panowitz, Associate Director 

kpanowitz@strength.org

Kara Panowitz has been with Share Our Strength since 2013 and is the Associate Director of No Kid Hungry MD. Her passion for working on food access began as a Health Volunteer in Peace Corps Madagascar where she studied food insecurity and lived in a food insecure community. This passion continued as Kara returned to Baltimore City and became a middle school Special Education teacher and English as a Second Language teacher for adults.  The food security challenges her students and their families faced were prime examples of the inequitable and unjust system that prevails. This led Kara to get a Master’s in Social Work: Community Organization and Management at the University of Maryland with the goal of working on food access. This was followed by joining the No Kid Hungry team and being a Food Justice Educator for Repair the World.

Kara volunteers at various organizations in Baltimore, including Board Membership at Friends of Patterson Park. Kara also has a passion for filmmaking and has produced and directed documentaries on social justice issues. She is a Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund Fellow for filmmaking.

About Share Our Strength

No Kid Hungry is a national campaign run by Share Our Strength, a nonprofit working to solve problems of hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world. After 25 years of successfully investing in local nonprofits and helping find the best approaches to eradicating poverty and hunger, Share Our Strength launched No Kid Hungry in 2010.

As a child hunger organization, ending childhood hunger is our primary focus, though Share Our Strength continues to invest in and develop other campaigns.

Learn more about Share Our Strength and our other work at ShareOurStrength.org.

Join Us and Make an Impact

We all have different strengths to share in the fight to ensure every child in Maryland gets the food they need. Ways you can start making a difference today: