Stop Hunger Classroom Challenge

Stop Hunger Classroom Challenge is sponsored by Youth Service America (YSA) and Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation. Empowers K–12 classrooms to develop student-led solutions addressing hunger, with winners receiving grants to expand their initiatives.

Stop Hunger Classroom Challenge & Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation Youth Grants | Youth Service America Stop Hunger Classroom Challenge Winners Announced!

YSA Announces 2026 Stop Hunger Classroom Challenge Winners Four classrooms and one community-based program recognized for student-led solutions to address hunger across the United States Youth Service America (YSA), in partnership with the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation, is proud to announce the winners of the 2026 Stop Hunger Classroom Challenge , a national initiative empowering students to strengthen and reimagine how their schools address hunger in their communities.

This year’s Challenge invited K–12 classrooms to take existing efforts, such as food drives, school pantries, and backpack programs, and make them more impactful, student-led, and sustainable. Students led the work from start to finish, identifying gaps, proposing solutions, and taking action. Following a national review process, five finalists were selected and awarded grants ranging from $750 to $2,500 to expand their projects.

Click on each winner’s name to watch their video. Nanakuli High & Intermediate School – Waianae, Hawaii – $2,500 Award (1st Place) Students led a community-based initiative connecting sustainability and food access, partnering with local organizations to support fresh food distribution while reducing waste.

Mission High School – San Fernando, California – $2,000 Award (2nd Place) Students launched and expanded a school-based food pantry, addressing food insecurity among students and families, including teen parents. Southwest High School – El Centro, California – $1,500 Award (3rd Place) Students developed and strengthened a student-led pantry initiative focused on improving food access and promoting community health.

Southern University at Shreveport – Shreveport, Louisiana – $1,000 Award (4th Place) Students organized food drives, created a student-led food bank, and provided nutrition education to support families in their community. Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain – Winterville, North Carolina – $750 Award (5th Place) Youth leaders worked to reduce food waste by collecting and redistributing unused meal items to local organizations.

Each year, millions of children in the United States face hunger. The Stop Hunger Classroom Challenge supports educators in guiding students to take meaningful, student-led action to address this issue in their own communities.

The Challenge is designed to be simple and flexible for any grade level, helping classrooms: Strengthen existing hunger-related efforts Center student voice and leadership Develop practical, community-based solutions Build projects that can grow over time Participating classrooms received a Teacher Resource Guide, access to YSA’s toolkit resources, and support throughout the process.

12 classrooms were recognized nationally , including 7 semi-finalists who received awards of $250 or $500. Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation Youth Grants YSA is now accepting applications for the 16th Annual Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation Youth Grants program through January 25, 2026!

With the generous support of the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation , we will again offer project grants to youth changemakers—aged 5 to 25—to lead awareness, direct service, advocacy, and philanthropic projects that focus on ending childhood hunger in their communities. “Why focus on hunger? ” you may ask.

1 in 5 children – more than 13 million young peopl e – in the US is living at risk of hunger. Households with children are 1. 5 times more likely to face hunger than households without children.

18% of households with children experience food insecurity. This year, youth may apply for grants of $1,000 for projects that engage at least 100 other youth as volunteers (project planners, project leaders, and day-of volunteers) in activities designed to help end childhood hunger in their community.

Proposed projects must be youth-led and focus on addressing childhood hunger; Projects must take place during the Sodexo Servathon (April 1 – May 31, 2026), with some activity during Youth Service Month (April 10 – May 10, 2026) and/or Global Youth Service Day (April 24-26, 2026) strongly encouraged; Projects may take place in K-12 schools, colleges/universities, afterschool programs, youth organizations, nonprofits, or faith-based organizations; Youth applicants should provide opportunities for all of their peers to participate as volunteers, especially youth from low-income families or neighborhoods, young people of color, and youth who are often served, but not usually asked to serve – such as youth with disabilities, youth who are homeless, in foster care, in the juvenile justice system, youth who are immigrants or refugees, English Language Learners, LGBTQ+, or in military families; Youth applicants must live in the United States, and activities must benefit children and families in the United States.

Because those experiencing hunger require both short-term and long-term support, we are especially interested in projects that have a sustainability component and/or introduce long-term solutions to ending hunger. We are also looking for ideas that bring together all members of the community from young people and their families to Sodexo employees and leaders in the community.

Project Ideas and Planning Tools Suggested project types include (links lead to planning tools for that type): Organizing Food Drives and Fundraisers Growing Healthy Food and Gardening Recovering Surplus Food (Gleaning) Starting or Supporting a Backpack Feeding Program Volunteering at a Food Bank, Shelter, or Community Kitchen Teaching about Healthy Eating on a Budget Helping Families Access Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefits, Free and Reduced Lunch, or Summer Meal Programs Leading Advocacy and Public Awareness Campaigns The application is closed for 2026.

If you have questions as you’re completing your application or about this year’s program, please check out the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions . If your question is not addressed there, you can contact the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation youth grant administrator Scott Ganske at sganske@ysa. org .

2025 Program Impact Report