(ThyBlackMan.com) The sun is shining and Summer is in full swing. While school is out, many children are excited to enjoy some fun activities and relaxation away from books and the pressures of being a student. However, one of the overlooked aspects of the school year is its importance in providing meals to children who struggle with getting adequate food and nutrition on a daily basis. There is a summer hunger gap for several thousands of children in states like Michigan, where food service programs like Meet Up and Eat Up!, provide free meals to children up to age 18 and living in low-income areas. The sad reality in America is that child hunger is a significant problem as “1 out of 6 children in America may not know where they will get their next meal.” Earlier this month, Olympic gold medalist and world boxing champion Claressa Shields visited Detroit, Michigan to encourage young people and take a stand against child hunger.
Claressa Shields has had a meteoric rise from unrefined, inexperience fighting talent to Olympic gold medalist to history-making world champion boxer. She won the first middleweight gold medal in women’s Olympic boxing at the age of 17 during the 2012 Summer Olympic 
Games in London and followed that gold medal with another gold medal in women’s boxing during the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Earlier this year, Shields became the undisputed women’s middleweight world champion after defeating Christina Hammer. Her present and future is very bright as well but she comes from a difficult past. Many of Shields’ struggles living in poverty in Flint, Michigan were captured during the the 2015 documentary “T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold.”
It is Claressa Shields’ background that made her an excellent person to partner with the U.S. dairy community and Feeding America regarding the child hunger problem in America and in Michigan, where the numbers are worrisome. Just a decade ago, Shields herself could have been classified as a young person struggling with consistent food security and getting consistent meals.
When she returned to Detroit to be part of an event at Ford Field earlier this month, she lent words of encouragement to hundreds of Michigan-area children who qualified for free or reduced lunch and she also participated in sports activities with them. It is important that the children saw a successful young adult in Shields, who also looked like them, and comes from an extremely similar circumstance when she was their age. She is empowering in many ways and displays strength, focus, and confidence as an athlete.
In less than a decade, Claressa Shields has gone from unknown to fighting for world boxing championships on major networks like Showtime yet she found the time to return to her home state to give back to young people who were just like her from in an economics standpoint. It is clear that her mission against childhood hunger is close to her because of her life experiences and she is using her celebrity in a unselfish way. When some athletes or celebrities receive fame in a short amount of time, it is easy for them to forget about the people from their area or the next generation of children who come from their area but Claressa Shields deserves some credit for her taking on this important issue.
Staff Writer; Mark Hines
