San Diego – September 28, 2026 -- Students in grades four through nine across all 50 states and D.C. can now enter a free national challenge that rewards kids for rescuing food and fighting hunger in their communities, with entries accepted through March 12, 2027.
The Hunger Action Heroes Unite! National Challenge, launched this month by the youth education arm of Feeding San Diego, asks students to identify a real way to fight hunger or food waste, take action, document it with photos and video, and answer three reflection questions. A parent or guardian submits the entry.
Creekside Elementary students already provided more than 9,100 meals
Fourth and fifth-graders at Creekside Elementary School in Poway Unified read the Hunger Action Heroes Unite! comic book, completed the curriculum, then organized a food drive, worked a volunteer shift, and ran a lemonade stand. Together, their efforts helped provide more than 9,100 meals for people facing hunger in their community, without a contest or prize driving them.
Winners get a trip to Comic-Con 2027 and cash grants
One National Champion from each grade division -- four through six, and seven through nine -- will win a paid trip to San Diego Comic-Con 2027 for the student and a guardian, a $750 college scholarship, a $3,000 impact grant for their school, and $1,000 for a hunger relief or food rescue charity of their choice. Prize travel must be completed between July 21 and July 26, 2027.
School food waste costs an estimated $1.7 billion a year
According to World Wildlife Fund's Food Waste Warriors program, food waste at U.S. schools totals an estimated $1.7 billion annually. Feeding America estimates 1 in 5 kids in the country face hunger, sometimes in the same cafeterias where that food is discarded.
"Food Waste Prevention Week and our National Challenge are asking kids the exact same question: what happens when you stop treating this as somebody else's problem, and kids step up to be the heroes,