Though most of the public schools provide free lunch in Korea, prolonging the COVID-19 pandemic inevitably made children stay home. Accordingly, more than 300,000 children under the age of 18 are unable to eat three meals a day. This number is approximately equal to one out of ten children in Korea, according to the 2019-2020 Children's Comprehensive Survey by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The children's meal card provides 5000 won (about $5) per meal, but this is still not adequate considering that most nutritional meals cost about at least 8000 (about $8). Low-income children's meal expanse through childcare centers is about 3,500 won (About $3) per day, and even this is often not received because they are placed in welfare blind spots.
According to SBS News in 2018, the average height of these children is about 10cm less than those who eat proper three meals a day. Moreover, these children are 20% more likely to get the chronic disease when they become adults.
Through this project, we decided to donate money for producing food kits that have proper nutrition for brain and body development. We are specifically aiming to initiate a collaboration with G-Foundation, an official donation website that supports many low-income families and children.
Below are the projected components for the food kits.
(picture source: G foundation)