“Every morning at 6:00 I’d go with my begging bowl and get stuffed donated.”
These are the words of Ruth Beckford, born in 1925, died in 2019, and in between lived a life filled with dance, teaching, writing, and purpose.
In 1968, the renowned dancer organized a Free Breakfasts for Children program for the Black Panther Party at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, California. She consulted a nutritionist, sought donations from local businesses, put the word out to parents, and recruited her student dancers to serve as volunteers.
School administrators reported immediate improvements in the attention and focus of the children once their hunger was abated. The program grew across the city, then the country, and became a model for other community programs.
Beckford’s spirit remains very much with us at the Food Shuttle today as we celebrate Black History Month and continue to make child hunger a high priority in our work. In 2023, we distributed nearly 66,000 BackPack Buddies to local schools. These are prepackaged meals that elementary school children at risk of food insecurity can take home for the weekend, when free breakfast and lunch is not available.
We served an additional 13,000+ families through school pantries, which provide students and their families with safe and easy-to-access places to choose from a selection of foods.
While we work to meet this need every day, we also support funding for federal nutrition programs, including free breakfast and lunch for students and programs like SNAP and WIC, which are essential in the mission of ending hunger in America.
Check out our child hunger programs and join us in giving a nod to Ruth Beckford for her leadership in recognizing that no child should have to deal with hunger as they strive to learn and grow.
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Photo credit: Museum of Performance & Design
Ruth Beckford teaching dance in 1974, curated by Wendy Perron: Black dance in action, Ruth Beckford dance workshop at Mills College : Beckford, Ruth : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive