When I was a teacher, I could always tell when a child came to school hungry. Their eyes showed it: that distant look, the difficulty focusing. Their behavior revealed it through irritability, an inability to sit still, or a complete lack of energy. I saw it in their academic performance, watching bright kids struggle with lessons they were capable of grasping easily, simply because their bodies were running on empty. As any teacher can tell you, the effects of hunger on children go far beyond a single school day — it takes a toll on their development, their health, and their confidence for years to come.
Teachers across Texas see the faces of hunger every single day. In recent weeks, they've seen many more. When the federal shutdown cut off food assistance, over 1.7 million Texas kids suddenly lost access to reliable meals. The shutdown is now over, and benefits will resume, but the return of SNAP funds doesn't mean families can finally breathe easy. The shutdown didn't create this crisis — it simply tore back the curtain on one that was already devastating our community. And now, deeper cuts loom on the horizon: President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will slash SNAP funding by $186 billion over the next decade, reducing benefits for more than 16 million children nationwide.
As a proud Texan, it pains me that Texas leads the nation in food insecurity. A recent Kinder Institute study revealed that a staggering 40% of Harris County residents have unstable access to nutritious food—nearly three times the national average. At the local level, we are stepping up to address this crisis. In Harris County Precinct 4, we have partnered with numerous organizations that bring healthy, nutritious food right to our community centers. Through the Common Market, we're connecting local farmers to families with boxes of fresh produce. La Tiendita—a partnership with the Tejano Center and the Houston Food Bank—provides groceries alongside nutrition education and access to social services. Second Servings' pop-up grocery stores, and our new partnership with Feed the Fridge, rescues surplus food from restaurants and redistributes it to households in need. And via another partnership with the Houston Food Bank, children enjoy free meals in our Precinct 4 summer programs.
We are proud to be part of a network of organizations doing critical work on the front lines of hunger. Yet that infrastructure is strained. This week at Commissioners Court, I authorized $50,000 from our Precinct 4 budget to keep Interfaith Ministries' Meals on Wheels running after funding cuts threatened 300 homebound seniors. We will continue supporting these organizations in any way we can.
I'm also proud to stand with my colleagues on Commissioners Court as we advance policies that lift working families by raising wages for workers, expanding job training, and bringing health care into neighborhoods through mobile clinics. But local programs alone cannot solve a crisis this vast, especially when state leaders actively make it worse.
In June, Governor Abbott vetoed a $60 million budget measure to feed hungry children during summer break when school cafeterias close and family budgets stretch thin. Decisions like these have led to over 5 million food-insecure people in Texas, despite the state boasting one of the world's largest economies.

The path forward requires leadership at all levels of government and robust investments in food assistance, job training that leads to living wages, and access to affordable health care, starting with Medicaid expansion. Handing someone a plate solves today's hunger. Giving them opportunity solves tomorrow's. Texas has the resources to do both; we just need the will.
Leaders in Austin and Washington must act now to stop this crisis. If they don't, we must hold them accountable. We must also take action in our own lives to feed our community. Together, we can ensure that every morning, teachers walk into classrooms filled with well-fed children, ready to learn, dream, and build the future they deserve.