A Community We Support: La Campana
Background
Feed the Hungry San Miguel began serving the school children in La Campana in 2006. During school year 2023-2024, 124 primaria (elementary) students and 72 kinder (preschool) students are receiving a hot lunch every school day. Cooks are employed by Feed the Hungry, and volunteer mothers assist with cooking and clean-up.
Location Statistics
The community of La Campana is 26 km from the Feed the Hungry Center. The most recent INEGI census (2020) reported a La Campana population of 959 men, women, and children, residing in 252 households, 30% of which did not have indoor sanitary facilities. At the time, 37% of the residents were under 14 years of age. Employment was low; 39% for men and 17% for women. More than 10% of the adult residents were reported to be illiterate. The average amount of schooling achieved by adults was 6 years.
La Campana was one of the first communities to benefit from Feed the Hungry’s Early Childhood Nutrition Program. There are now 14 children aged between one and three years old (and their mothers) who benefit from the delivery of food supplies every two weeks.
Home visits are conducted by Feed the Hungry staff to evaluate of the conditions of the homes and to observe family eating habits. Recipes and instructional guides to good nutrition are provided. Workshops are offered to promote safe food handling, balanced meals, and physical activity at home.
Nutrition Report – School Year 2022-2023
For the latest Nutrition Report, staff nutritionists assessed 173 students in primaria and kinder through height, weight, and body fat measurements.
Cases of underweight are far less than were reported in 2019 (health assessments were not conducted in 2020 and 2021 when schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The number of children at normal weight has vastly improved.
Typically, cases of underweight have been found more often among the children who are not yet of school age, who lack nutritious food at home and are not receiving school meals. However, we see very positive outcomes from the Early Childhood Nutrition program, which started in the La Campana community in 2019.
Health Assessment Results
| Condition | 2023 | 2019 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light underweigh | 3% | 46% | 10% |
| Moderate underweight | 0.6% | 10% | 18% |
| Severe underweight | 0.6% | 2% | 24% |
| Normal | 79% | 39% | 42% |
| Obese | 0% | 1% | 3% |
| Overweight | 2% | 2% | 4% |
| High risk of overweight | 15% | N/A | N/A |
We are now tracking children classified as “at risk of overweight”—those who have body mass indices on the border between normal and overweight. It is important to prevent children at risk of becoming overweight from increasing their caloric intake—if they gain weight faster than they grow, the risk of chronic disease increases.
We will continue our efforts to provide nutrition and education to combat malnutrition and prevent overweight and obesity.
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