An estimated 821 million people—one person in nine—suffer from hunger worldwide. In the U.S., the percentage is even higher, at 1 in 5. Hunger and malnutrition are not just immediate threats to health and well-being—over time, they can keep children from growing, learning and developing their full potential.
2020: The Hunger Challenge
Fighting Hunger and Malnutrition
Help write the recipe for ending hunger.
Tens of millions of children around the world go to bed hungry or malnourished each night—but you can help change that. For every artwork you create between now and June 26, 2020, the Bezos Family Foundation will make a donation to programs fighting hunger. Ready to cook up some hope? Register to participate, then read more below.
Register
How it Works
From understanding to action in a few simple steps.
We’ve made it easy for students to help their peers while also taking away a lasting understanding of hunger and its effects, nutrition, agriculture, and global citizenship. Just follow these steps:
1. Register, Set, Go.
First, register—it’s both easy and required. Then, jump into our resources and join teachers and students worldwide in exploring the varied causes and effects of hunger and malnutrition.
2. Send in a creatively presented recipe
Share an artfully illustrated version of a recipe—an actual recipe or a more imaginative, conceptual one-—that reflects culture, community, and connection. You can submit your art by sharing a digital photo of it, or by sending it to us via mail.
3. Put food on the table for children around the world.
For every recipe you send us, the Bezos Family Foundation will donate $6 (up to $700,000) to support programs providing immediate hunger relief and prevention, nutrition education, and the development of long-term, community-based agricultural solutions.
Get Started
Ready to begin? These resources will help.
Get going right away with our Leader Guide, Art-Making Guide, and short introductory video for students, all posted below. Then, as you like, explore lesson plans and other learning materials on our Resources page. All are flexible enough for any setting and designed to maximize student engagement while minimizing prep time. Many meet national standards. And all are free of charge.
View more resources
Why hunger?
Food is the foundation for a healthy life.
Hunger might look different than you think.
Hunger can be heartbreakingly obvious or deceptively invisible. That’s why Hunger Challenge teams are learning about hunger in all its guises—malnutrition, food insecurity, ‘food deserts,’ and more—and investigating how hunger prevents young people in different places from living full lives. We’re also looking at what can be done to end hunger, from emergency relief to long-term solutions.
You can create the recipe for change.
First, learn about hunger, its causes, and what can prevent it. Next, create an artfully presented recipe—an actual recipe you love, or a more imaginative, conceptual one—that reflects culture, community, and connection. Then send it to us. For every artwork we receive between now and June 26, 2020 the Bezos Family Foundation will donate $3 (up to $700,000) to programs fighting hunger in the U.S. and other countries around the world.
Youth helping youth.
There’s a direct connection between your art and hunger and malnutrition programs in communities worldwide, including UNICEF’s work fighting chronic malnutrition in Yemen and Ethiopia; Mary’s Meals’ school-based feeding programs in India and Malawi; and COVID-19 related hunger response work through No Kid Hungry and Save the Children. In addition, support also went to nine other community-based organizations confronting hunger and nutrition around the U.S. By supporting these efforts with the artful recipes you create and send in, you’ll help nourish tens of thousands of young people.
Let the world see your work.
To celebrate your work and raise awareness about hunger, we’ll share your recipes with the public. That means your art could appear in a major venue, or at an event that teaches others about hunger and malnutrition. Check back for more information on how this year’s art will be exhibited once the Challenge ends.
Interactive Map
Join a global community of caring.
There are never too many chefs in this kitchen. Students from all over the world are taking the Hunger Challenge, and new ones are joining the effort all the time. Register to be added to the map, then check back to discover the location of new teams as they join. Click the apple icons to learn how the programs you’re funding are making a difference.
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Have you registered?
Registering is free, easy, and ensures that every artwork you create results in a donation. (It’s also required.)
Gallery
Hunger Challenge Gallery
Meet our partners, read inspiring notes, and see artfully designed recipes from teachers and students around the world.
Double Your Impact Through June 5, 2020!
3/30/2020
While many things have been either postponed or cancelled due to the devastating COVID-19 outbreak, we are pleased to be able to extend and expand our double campaign through the end of the Hunger Challenge. That means that ALL recipes you submit from now on will be matched with $6! We know that with school and events cancelled, many of you were concerned about missing the opportunity to have your students' art make an even bigger impact. With this extension, you can turn your art in when you can and trust that it will still get matched with double. We hope your teams will continue to make recipes. We are currently identifying additional opportunities that your efforts will support given the increase in hunger due to the global pandemic we are experiencing. Stay tuned for more information on how your participation will help in the coming weeks.
Learn more about the Spring Campaign running through June 5, 2020 which will count all submitted recipes for double at $6!
These recipes traveled 6,000 miles to us and arrived from the 10th grade Nativité Team of La Nativité Ensemble Scolaire in Aix-en-Provence, France!
These recipes traveled 6,000 miles to us and arrived from the 10th grade Nativité Team of La Nativité Ensemble Scolaire in Aix-en-Provence, France!
We have just reached 2% of our goal! The Walden International School in Ontario, Canada just submitted some amazing 3 dimensional recipe art.
We have just reached 2% of our goal! The Walden International School in Ontario, Canada just submitted some amazing 3 dimensional recipe art.
Learn more about Te'Lario and his participation in the Hunger Challenge on our blog.
We are so excited to have youth-led teams taking the Hunger Challenge. Te'Lario Watkins is a 11-year old mushroom farmer who runs Tiger Mushroom Farms.
Chef Gordon Ramsey is encouraging everyone to take the Hunger Challenge as he will be selecting one students' recipe to make live and share on his YouTube channel in April! Be sure to register for the Challenge and get your recipes submitted by March 2020 to be considered.
We are excited to announce a collaboration with internationally renowned, multi-Michelin starred chef Gordon Ramsay for the Hunger Challenge!
The Waimea Canyon Middle School in Waimea, Hawaii has created some amazing recipes and three dimensional food to match! Submitting art to the Challenge can be a journey in creativity. What ideas do you have?
See more team recipes by checking out or Challenge Map and by following us on all social media @studentsrebuild.
Norwood High School was our first team to submit recipes just 2 weeks into the Hunger Challenge! Here is a great recipe for a a traditional Lebanese dinner!
Founded by Hallie Thomas, HAPPY provide interactive & fun peer-to-peer learning experiences for youth, grades 3-6, in diverse communities all across the U.S. and globally. Their initiatives include plant-based nutrition/culinary summer camps, school visits & tours, and more!
Follow this link to learn more about the cool thing HAPPY is up to:
Learn more
Hunger Challenge partner HAPPY is a youth-founded and led organization that promotes youth empowerment through holistic health education.
See more team recipes by checking out or Challenge Map and by following us on all social media @studentsrebuild.
The CHS WISE (Women In Science & Engineering) team submitted recipes that offer solutions to global problems like "A Recipe to End Mental Health Stigma"!
We love the way they used a recycled aluminum can, collage, and drawing to creatively display this recipe for pasta and tomato sauce. What creative materials will YOU use to take action in the Hunger Challenge?
Wow! Look at this sweet and cool artistic recipe submitted by one of our Students Rebuild high school interns!
Grow Dat Youth Farm brings together young people from across New Orleans to learn about, grow, sell, and prepare fresh and nutritious produce and meals – especially in neighborhoods where access to such food is limited. They also weave in high quality youth leadership programming and offer jobs and a supportive community to students in need.
Learn more about their cool and incredible work here:
Learn more
Grow Dat Youth Farm is partnering with Students Rebuild for this year's Hunger Challenge!
The Kohala Center's mission is to turn research and Hawaiian ancestral knowledge into action, so that communities in Hawai‘i and around the world can thrive—ecologically, economically, culturally, and socially. They weave local young people into their work, so that the next generation can help steward this important mission.
Visit them to learn more:
Learn more
The Kohala Center is one of ten organizations supported through the Students Rebuild Hunger Challenge.
What other shapes and styles might you use to be creative and make your work stand out? What foods do you want to celebrate, be grateful for, and represent through the Hunger Challenge? We can’t wait to see!
A cupcake shaped cupcake recipe is a one unique and inventive way to personalize the treat you love.