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Child star Quvenzhané Wallis now 11, has few financial worries these days but that’s not the case for other children. Wallis has teamed up with Kellogg’s to promote the initiative, which helps provide meals for children who need them.

“A little bit,” Wallis says about feeling like a star. Her mother Qulyndreia, a schoolteacher for years until her daughter’s career took off,  says the family keeps her grounded by treated her normally when she’s off the set.

“We keep her normal by having her do normal things,” says Qulyndreia. “When we’re on the road, we’re doing one thing and then when we come home, she just drops back into an average 11-year-old and yes, she does chores, but she’s also been given this wonderful platform to express the importance of things like childhood hunger.”

One in five children go to school hungry, so the initiative is an important one. It’s something that Qulyndreia saw firsthand as a teacher.

“If you think about the statistics in my class that would be about 30. That means that six of those kids didn’t eat that morning. We want to get a million breakfasts served by the end of 2015 and one billion served by 2016. We will stand and fight with Kellogg’s for as long as they are and beyond.”

Quevenzhane, pronounced QUE-VEN-JA-NAY is one of four children in the Wallis family which includes a three girls and a brother along with her father.  All the girls’ names start with Que.

Quvenzhane’s next film, Fathers and Daughters stars Octavia Spencer, Amanda Seyfried, Aaron Paul and Russell Crowe comes out later this year. In it, she plays the childhood version of a grown woman reflecting on her past. As far as how roles are chosen, Qulyndreia says it’s a collaborative project.

“We sit together, Quevenzhane, my husband and I and go through what comes in. If it’s something that she’s passionate about or that she has feelings about, then it’s very easy to choose. She’s a very unique actress to me and she becomes the role. So when we choose the roles it has to be something she can be comfortable with becoming.”

While her mother says Quevenzhane’s earnings will go toward her college fund, she was allowed one first big purchase – A MacBook Air. Her mother says that she’s not sure if any of Quevenzhane’s other siblings will get into acting – but her eldest daughter is going to have to complete college first.

For more information on how to provide a breakfast for a hungry child, click HERE or check the specially marked boxes of Kellogg’s cereal.

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