Stop Child Hunger Act: 2 Georgia Groups Back Passage

CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA — Hunger and food insecurity didn't disappear among 22 million children nationally, including more than 5,400 kids in Cherokee County who are struggling to get enough to eat.

That's why 344 national, state and local groups are asking Congress to permanently extend the summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program for all children eligible to receive free and reduced-price school meals.

In Georgia, the letter supporting the $25 billion Stop Child Hunger Act was signed by Atlanta Community Food Bank and Georgia Food Bank Association.

In April, the Biden administration extended the pandemic EBT program to provide free summer meals to nearly 30 million children who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches.

The program — part of the Trump administration's response to the pandemic, when tens of thousands of U.S. students lost access to free or low-cost school meals — kept about 3 million children from going hungry, according to a Hamilton Project report.

It also closed a significant summertime meals gap that has existed for years, despite a federal program that promises kids who got free and reduced-cost meals during the school year could continue to receive them in the months when classes aren't in session.

The Summer Food Service Program woefully underserves the 29 million kids who qualify, reaching only about 1 in 7 eligible students. That's according to Kalena Thomhave, who writes about poverty and inequality for The American Prospect, an independent, nonprofit journalism site that covers politics and public policy.

The issue: The program requires that children eat at a physical meal site. Kids may have trouble getting to and from the sites, Thomhave wrote, and the requirements tend to be strict.

That includes stipulations that meal sites must be located in areas where 50 percent of the children are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch.

"This makes access especially hard for kids in rural areas," Thomhave wrote.

The low participation numbers in the Summer Food Service Program prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2011 to pilot a program extending benefits similar to today's P-EBT program in a handful of states. Randomly selected families already receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Women, Infants and Children benefits received an additional $60 or $30 in benefits each month.

The pilot program had limited reach, operating in 11 states and three Indian Tribal Organizations. But by the USDA's measure, it was a success. Among the findings in a 2016 report:

• The most severe type of food insecurity (very low food security) was reduced by a third, and food insecurity in general was reduced by a fifth.
• Children ate better, consuming more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and dairy products; kids whose families received $60 more a month consumed substantially more of these products than kids whose families got half that amount.

Now is no time to pull back on a pandemic-era policy that fills the bellies of hungry kids during the summer months, says Crystal FitzSimons, who leads the Food Research & Action Center's efforts around nutrition programs.

"If you give families more resources to purchase food, that is what happens," said FitzSimons, whose organization is among more than three dozen other education, hunger-relief and children's advocacy groups backing the Stop Child Hunger Act.

"They purchase more fruits and vegetables," she said, "and nutrition quality goes up."

Proper nutrition and child well-being are opposite sides of the same coin, FitzSimons said. So are food insecurity and obesity. It's not enough that kids get enough food; it has to be the right kind of food, she said.

Preparation for the "cyclical nature of hunger" — that is, running out of benefits before the month ends — can include stocking up on relatively inexpensive, less-nutrient-dense foods.

Adults in some families skip meals so the kids can eat — one of a series of poor choices they're forced to make as pantry shelves become more bare.

"Parents work hard to protect kids from food insecurity," FitzSimons said. "They'll skip meals and reduce what they eat to protect their kids."

The link between proper nutrition and how kids do in school is long known. The simple explanation is that "when kids are hungry, they have a hard time focusing and concentrating in school," FitzSimons said, but she pointed out that access to healthy food also is an important issue of equality and justice.

"In the intersections of food insecurity, child nutrition programs and health, a huge piece of the puzzle is that programs are equitable and just," she said.

The Stop Child Hunger Act, H.R. 3519, was sponsored in the House by Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA); Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) is the original co-sponsor. One Republican, Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, is among 43 co-sponsors.

The full list of organizations supporting the Stop Child Hunger Act include:

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
African American Health Alliance
Alliance for Excellent Education
Alliance to End Hunger
American Academy of Pediatrics
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research (CLEAR)
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Chiefs for Change
Coalition on Human Needs
Common Threads
Congressional Hunger Center
The Education Trust
Fair Food Network
Feeding America
First Focus
Campaign for Children
Food Research & Action Center
FoodCorps
Friends of the Earth
Girls Inc.
National Afterschool Association
National Association of School Nurses
National Education Association
National PTA
National Recreation and Parks Association
National Urban League
National Women's Law Center
Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies
RESULTS
Save the Children
Save the Children Action Network (SCAN)
School Board Partners
Share Our Strength
Stand for Children
UnidosUS
Union for Reform Judaism
Union of Concerned Scientists
United States Conference of Mayors

Here's how to help the more than 5,400 kids in Cherokee County living in food insecure households:

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2021, about 42 million Americans may not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations.

Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.