USDA: Hungry Children in Tyler

USDA Under Secretary Nancy Johner joined representatives from the East Texas Food Bank in Tyler last week to highlight the need for USDA's child nutrition programs there.

"Kids in East Texas are hungry," Food Bank Executive Director Robert Bush told the Tyler Morning Telegraph. "One-in-four children is at risk of hunger right now."

Johner called the press conference to praise the food bank's backpack program, which provides healthy food for children when they are out of school.

"We know that they have nutritious food during the school week, but on the weekends they often times go without food and the nutrition element is not always there," Bush said. 

"If you don't have food, you can't learn, and if you don't learn, you can't develop," Johner told CBS-News 19. "You won't be able to be a productive citizen to make it in this world."