School's out, but starvation is not

For the majority of us, we never need to worry about having enough to eat. But for many low-income families, food insecurity and starvation are summer problems. With school out, the free and reduced lunch program also ends. This puts many at risk of starvation.

           

According to CNBC, summer puts a strain on food pantries and food banks as they struggle to provide meals to families. Kevin Concannon with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that the time of year that a child is likely to go hungry is during the summer months. This is because school is out.

           

You’re probably wondering how I know so much. I volunteer at Catholic Charities in their Guadalupe Basic Needs Center. Summer is always a strain since more families rely on food assistance than any other time of the year. This means that food banks and food pantries are strained to fill the gap for those who normally rely on other services and federally funded food programs.

           

According to Feeding America, Texas is home to six of the 10 counties in the country with the highest rate of childhood food insecurity in 2011. Almost 2 million children or 27.6 percent lived in a food insecure household.

           

Food insecurity means that a household struggles to provide enough food for everyone in the family due to a lack of resources, according to CNBC.

It’s not just Texas. The situation is reflected on a national level too. About 21.4 million children receive free or reduced-cost lunches during the school year, according to the USDA. The neediest kids receive breakfast, snacks, dinner, and even backpacks of weekend food through school or after-school programs.

           

But last summer, only about 3 million kids were fed through the summer program, which provides meals to kids via school and community programs, Concannon said.

           

Kids usually have trouble getting to feeding sites when school buses aren’t running and parents are not always aware of the programs. When kids don’t have regular, nutritious meals, they learn slower and have more behavioral problems, experts say. They also start to develop unhealthy habits including binge-eating that can put them at risk for diabetes and obesity. Hungry kids may also resort to desperate measures such as intentionally failing a class so they can go to summer school and be assured of a meal.

           

According to CNN, a record 21.7 million U.S. students get free or low-cost lunches during school. But fewer than 4 million or just 18% of those in the student lunch program are fed through the USDA’s summer food program. While it’s a record, many say that the government can do more.

           

One of the biggest hurdles for summer meals is that it be served in an approved location and consumed on-site. This is to make sure that the children are the ones receiving the meals. But poverty and violence in an area can deter kids from wanting to go and receive the free meal.

           

Audrey Rowe, a USDA administrator, said that the department is working with lawmakers to increase flexibility around the summer meals program. It is also trying to expand the number of sites to include health centers and children’s hospitals.