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Local lawmaker proposes bill to fight hunger in area schools

According to Operation Food Search nearly 1 in 5 kids in Missouri struggle with hunger, but some area law makers are working to change that.

JENNINGS, Mo. – Grabbing breakfast in the morning for many seems like the normal thing to do but for some people, it’s not.

According to Operation Food Search nearly 1 in 5 kids in Missouri struggle with hunger, but some area law makers are working to change that.

Cora Faith Walker is the state representative for district 57 in Missouri, she’s sponsoring a bill to require more schools to provide children breakfast.

It's called Breakfast after the Bell.

Art McCoy who’s the superintendent for the Jennings school district said they’ve implemented the program since the fall semester of 2017. McCoy said he’s thrilled to learn leaders are working to possibly expand breakfast after the bell throughout the state of Missouri.

"It shows true leadership and it shows leadership from this region but also it shows that our representative Ms. Faith Walker is in touch with the needs of the people. So, we're excited and we support anything that helps our families,” McCoy said.

J.C. Page is a single dad in the Jennings School District who benefits from the program. He said being a single father is tough and that's why he relies on the school to give his daughter breakfast.

"I'm very happy for them providing for my daughter and not only my daughter all the rest of the kids,” he said.

McCoy said since they started the Breakfast after the Bell program the number of kids eating breakfast in school increased by almost 20 percent.

Representative Cora Faith Walker said schools using Breakfast After the Bell, have seen student test scores go up. She hopes more schools will become aware of this program, and ask for the funding, even before her bill is passed.

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