It also has to do with drama (saving a kid from starvation doesn't make gripping television) and the perceived futility of it. So you give a kid a meal. Then what? The next day the kid is in exactly the same situation as before. To say nothing of the fact that most starvation is caused by distribution problems that are ultimately rooted in intransigent-seeming politics.

When you try to get a kid out of a cave there is at least some hope of lasting success.