SNL's Kenan Thompson Helps Launch The Dine Out For No Kid Hungry School Bus Tour

One in six children in America don't know where their next meal is coming from, and over the next couple weeks, No Kid Hungry will be trekking cross-country and holding events in major cities to educate the public on their newest initiative: partnering with 11,000 restaurants, where diners can donate to the cause in exchange for money-saving rewards.

Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live's longest-tenured current cast member, helped launch the tour in New York City, and the No Kid Hungry Bus (which is actually an RV decked out to look like a yellow school bus) will make its next stop in Washington, D.C., followed by Nashville, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, and Los Angeles.

"America is the greatest country in the world, so we say, and we have to prove that by not letting our most vulnerable citizens go by the wayside," Thompson told us when we dropped by the bus to speak with him. "We're so known for our Wal-Mart and our fast food, so why aren't these kids getting the food that they need?"

All throughout September, restaurants ranging from popular chains like Arby's and Au Bon Pain to local mom-and-pops are encouraging customers to donate to No Kid Hungry in return for rewards; for example, if you donate a dollar at Au Bon Pain, you'll receive a voucher for a free pastry on your next visit, and at Arby's a dollar donation will get you a free slider the next time you visit. Every dollar donated connects a child to ten meals through No Kid Hungry's programs and partnerships, and last year's program generated more than $90 million.

"Being a parent definitely brings it home," Thompson, who has a 3-year-old daughter, added. "But even if I wasn't a parent, just hearing the fact that all these kids are going hungry, literally starving right here, these are the people that you sit next to at the baseball game, you look down the row and 5 people away from you their kid could be going hungry, that's just crazy!"

To find out which restaurants near you are participating, visit NoKidHungry.org.