WIC PARTICIPATION DROPS

More than 8 million low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children up to age 5 received WIC benefits in 2014 — including food, nutrition education, and breastfeeding support. According to a new USDA report, in 2014 WIC served an estimated 54.8% of eligible women, infants, and children, down from 59.3% in 2013.

The program benefitted 80% of eligible infants, but just 46% of eligible children ages 1 to 5.  From 2005–2014, WIC’s overall participation rate (participants compared to those eligible to receive benefits) has fluctuated within the range of 55 to 64%, reaching a high of 63.5% in 2011. Participation has been declining since 2011, reaching a low in 2014. (Later data are not available, but the total number of participants has dropped in the last three years).

Source: USDA, 9/29/17, WIC Declines

SNAP HELPS CUT CHILD POVERTY IN HALF

Thanks to government programs, the child poverty rate fell to a record low of 15.6% in 2016, a little more than half its 1967 level of 28.4%.  Data incorporating the Supplemental Poverty Measure (which  counts the income that the SNAP, rental subsidies, and other federal non-cash benefits and tax credits provide) show that the drop is largely attributable to safety net programs, particularly SNAP and refundable tax credits for earned income and child care. This improvement has benefited all demographic groups.  Between 1991 and 2016, SPM poverty rates among black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white children were all cut roughly in half.  When poverty is measured without counting safety net income, child poverty is only modestly lower than it was in the 1960s.  

Source: Center for Budget & Policy Priorities, 10/5/17, Child Poverty

NEW NUTRITION STANDARDS FOR DAY CARE

Starting October 1, all child and adult care centers and child care homes receiving federal funds from the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) must implement new nutrition standards that include a greater variety of vegetables and fruit, more whole grains, and less added sugar and saturated fat. The new standards also encourage breastfeeding and better align with WIC and other child nutrition programs, such as school breakfast and lunch. In 2016, CACFP provided meals to 4.3 million children and 130,000 elderly or disabled adults each day. While these numbers mean the new standards have impressive reach, the positive impact of the new standards goes beyond participating CACFP centers; at least 30 states, including Connecticut, require daycare providers to implement CACFP’s nutrition standards as part of their licensing requirements.

Source: Food Research & Action Center, 9/28/17, Day Care Nutrition

TEST SCORES DROP WHEN SNAP RUN OUT

A new study that confirms that it’s harder to think when you’re hungry. The study’s authors matched up the timing of math tests in South Carolina to the dates when low-income students’ families received monthly SNAP benefits. They found that kids’ test scores dropped at times of the month when nutrition benefits had run out. Put another way, access to SNAP substantially improves students’ academic performance—but only when there are actually enough benefits for families to be able to eat. Running out of SNAP benefits isn’t an anomaly—nearly half of participating families run out before the end of the month. Many previous studies have demonstrated the long-term effects of food insecurity on children; this study shows that the effect of losing SNAP benefits is immediate.

Source: Talk Poverty, 9/25/17, Test Scores

FOOD INSECURITY DOWN AMONG CHILDREN, BUT STILL HIGH

Rates of children living in households characterized by food insecurity or very low food security have improved since 2014. Nevertheless, in 2015, food insecurity remained unconscionably high, with more than 13 million children in 2015 living in a household characterized by food insecurity—over 1 in 6 children in America. Even more troubling, in 2015 more than 6 million children were food insecure themselves and another half a million children suffered one or more periods during which their food intake was reduced and normal eating patterns were disrupted because the household lacked money and other resources for food. In 22 states, more than 20% of children lived in food insecure households (CT’s rate was 17.6%).

Source: Brookings Institution, 6/19/17, Food Insecurity

TOO MANY KIDS MISS OUT ON SUMMER MEALS

After four years of significant growth, national participation in summer nutrition programs (Summer Food Service and the National School Lunch programs) decreased last summer. During July 2016, the programs served 3 million children across the country — 4.8% fewer children than were served in the previous summer.  On an average day in July 2016, the programs served lunch to 3.04 million children. The summer programs served only 15 children for every 100 low-income children who participated in National School Lunch Program during the regular school year, a decrease from 15.8 to 100 the previous year.

Source: Food Research & Action Center, 6/13/17, Summer Meals

SCHOOLS “SHAMING” CHILDREN TO GET LUNCH MONEY

Holding children publicly accountable for unpaid school lunch bills — by throwing away their food, providing a less desirable alternative lunch, or branding them with markers — is often referred to as “lunch shaming.” The practice is widespread — a 2014 USDA report found that nearly half of all school districts used some form of shaming to compel parents to pay bills. (About 45% withheld the hot meal and gave a cold sandwich, while 3% denied food entirely.) The problem of meal debt is not new, but the issue has received more attention recently because the Agriculture Department, which oversees school meal programs, imposed a July 1 deadline for states to establish policies on how to treat children whose parents cannot pay for food. In 2016, the School Nutrition Association published a review of almost 1,000 school lunch programs, finding that nearly 75% of districts had unpaid meal debt.  A Department guidance document suggests that districts ask their community for help, for example through “random acts of kindness” funding and school fundraisers.

Source: NYT, 4/30/17, Lunch Shaming

NO SHAME IN SCHOOL MEALS

Every day students come to school without a way to pay for lunch. In most places it's up to the school to decide what happens next. Some schools will provide kids an alternative lunch, like a cold cheese sandwich; others will sometimes provide hot lunch, but require students do chores, have their hand stamped, or wear a wristband showing they owe money; and some will deny students lunch altogether. But a new Hunger-Free Students' Bill of Rights Act in New Mexico requires that all students have access to the same lunch and ends practices like trashing lunches that have been served to students who can't pay, or making students do chores to work off debt. Texas and California are already working on similar legislation. With policies to handle unpaid meals all over the map, the USDA will soon require that all school districts have a policy on what to do when kids can't pay. By July 1, those policies must be in writing and communicated to staff, parents and the community.

Source: NPR, 4/17/17, School Meal Shaming

HUNGRY TODDLERS LAG BEHIND IN SCHOOL

Growing up in a hungry household in the first couple of years of life can hurt how well a child performs in school years later, according to a new study. The new study suggests that such early experience of hunger in the family is likely to make those children less ready for kindergarten than their classmates who came from homes with enough to eat. It shows that kids who experienced food insecurity in their first five years of life are more likely to be lagging behind in social, emotional and to some degree, cognitive skills when they begin kindergarten. The study’s authors found that the younger the children were when the family struggled with hunger, the stronger the effect on their performance once they started school.

Source: NPR, 3/23/17, Early Hunger

National School Breakfast Week:

            You know those sayings that you’ve heard so many times in your life that they just become ingrained in the back of your mind? For me, the phrase ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ fits into this category. Although I know breakfast is important, I think the phrase has been used so much that many people, including myself, forget just why. With National School Breakfast Week coming up this week, I think it is important to be reminded why breakfast is so valuable to a child’s education.

            According to the USDA, in 2015, over 90,000 schools served school breakfast to 14 million students each day. Out of these 14 million breakfasts, 11 million each day were free breakfasts for students from low-income families. That means that without meal assistance, approximately 11 million students everyday are at risk of going hungry! By feeding students school breakfasts, they are more likely to reach higher levels of achievement in reading and math, have better concentration, participate in class, and retain more of what they learn. Studies also show that offering free school breakfast results in better attendance records. The point is that, the 2.3 billion school breakfasts served annually, many of these free or reduced, greatly help children and especially those from low income families, to have a more equal playing field in life. Hunger reinforces the cycle of poverty. Arriving to school hungry every day prevents students from reaching their potential. By providing breakfast to those who cannot afford it, kids are no longer held back by hunger and are given a fairer chance to be successful in school.

            Knowing the importance of eating breakfast, what are some ways to spread awareness of the value of school breakfasts? Some ideas for this year’s National School Breakfast Week include creating a school breakfast challenge! Students are handed a card at the beginning of the week and receive a hole punch every day they purchase a breakfast item. At the end of the week, students who have 5 hole punches are entered into a raffle! Cards can be downloaded at www.schoolnutrition.org/NSBW. Other ideas include having a school art contest or a classroom photo contest centered on the topic of National School Breakfast Week! Posting pictures online or hanging artwork around the school can help spark dialogue on the importance of school breakfast. For more National School Breakfast Week ideas, visit the School Nutrition Association website at the following link: http://schoolnutrition.org/Meetings/Events/NSBW/2017/getstarted/

-- Jamie Oriol

SLU student and

GardenShare intern

TEENS GO HUNGRY IN FOOD INSECURE FAMILIES

In extremely poor American families, teens go hungry more often than younger children, a new study finds. Parents will first forgo food themselves to feed their kids. But if there still isn't enough food for everyone, younger children take priority over teens, the research shows. The researchers said about 6% of kids who were 11 years old or younger weren't getting enough to eat, and 12% of those aged 12 to 18 regularly went hungry. Of those older children, 14% of boys didn't get enough food, compared to 10% of girls.

Source: UPI, 2/15/17, Hungry Teens

New Toolkit to Help Pediatrician's Spot Hunger

Food insecurity is detrimental to children’s health and well-being. Children in food-insecure households are more likely to get sick and be hospitalized than their peers and suffer developmental delays, behavioral problems, and obesity. Pediatricians and other practitioners working with children play a vital role in protecting children and their families from food insecurity and its harmful consequences. To help them, The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Food Research & Action Center have jointly released a new resource: Addressing Food Insecurity. The toolkit provides specific information on how to screen patients for food insecurity; make the appropriate interventions, most commonly by referring patients and their families to the federal nutrition programs: and advocate for greater food security and improved overall health of children and their families.

Source: Food Research & Action Center, 2/9/17, Pediatricians' Toolkit

Potsdam Snack Pack Program

The Potsdam Snack Packs program is a great example of what a person can accomplish with vision and determination. Laurell Brault began pursuing this program in April 2016 after observing that other St. Lawrence County schools such as Canton, Massena, and Ogdensburg had successful backpack programs and Potsdam did not. The need definitely exists in Potsdam; about 30 percent of students at Lawrence Avenue Elementary School are eligible for free or reduced lunch, and as of January, 100 elementary students are receiving weekly snack packages from the program. 

"The addition of the Snack Pack program is great news for the families at Lawrence Avenue. In our community we do not always know just how much a family might be struggling and we want them to know we see how hard they are working to provide for their children. We want to help families in any way we can to ensure are students are getting adequate nutrition," Lawrence Avenue Principal Jennifer Gray has stated.

This program receives no funding from the school district; it's entirely run by volunteer power. In particular, the Potsdam Lions Club has stepped up to provide assistance, and the program is housed at New Hope Community Church in Potsdam. GardenShare wants to be a part of the continued health of this program, which is why we're focusing on it, as well as Canton's Golden Bear Packs, for our Martin Luther King Jr. Day food drive this year. 

Please help GardenShare make Martin Luther King Jr. Day "a day on, not a day off" by collecting food to benefit these worthy programs! Food can be dropped off at our collection points between noon and 4:00 PM on Friday. Check out our website at www.gardenshare.org for specifics on what food is needed and where the collection points are located.

Canton Golden Bear Packs

The Golden Bear Packs program at Canton Central School will soon be celebrating its third anniversary. The first 25 packs were sent home on February 12, 2013 with Banford Elementary School students who needed healthy food to eat over the weekend.

Did you know that over one-third of students in the Canton Central School district qualify for free or reduced lunch? That means, according to the USDA, that those families, if there are four people in the household, are earning less than $44,965 per year (for reduced lunch) or $31,590 per year (for free lunch). Maintaining a household budget is not easy with income levels such as these, and Canton CSD (as have several other districts in St. Lawrence County) has recognized that without a secure source of healthy food, children can't be expected to perform well in school. As one of the school counselors explained to NPR in 2014, "I think a lot of our students worry about kind of grownup problems ... whether it be money and food and heat, and those kinds of things."

The students who benefit from Golden Bear Packs receive 10 items of healthy food each Friday, including breakfast, lunch, snacks, juice boxes, fresh fruit and more. Everything from whole wheat crackers to canned pasta might find its way into a pack. But of course, a program like this depends on the generous donations of the community.

GardenShare and SLU Campus Kitchens are happy to be able to support Golden Bear Packs through our Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service food drive on Monday, January 16th. Please visit the GardenShare website at www.gardenshare.org to learn more about what food is needed, then take some time on Monday to collect food in your neighborhood and bring it to the collection van on Main Street in Canton (next to the Canton Municipal Building) between noon and 4pm. Help us make it a day on, not a day off!

Source: http://www.gbfound.org/golden-bear-packs

MLK Day of Service

Did you know that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the ONLY federal holiday to have official Congressional designation as a day of service? Since 1994, the Corporation for National and Community Service has been encouraging people across America to do something to help their communities – to make this holiday “a day on, not a day off.”

You might be embarrassed to learn that in 2016, New York State ranked 49^th out of 50 states and Washington DC in terms of numbers of residents who volunteered. Less than 20 percent of state residents volunteered in 2015, according to data collected by the Corporation for National and Community Service. In better news, however, one of the most popular volunteer activities in 2015 in New York State was “collect, prepare, distribute or serve food.” Hunger is something we can all understand … something that none of us want to experience.

GardenShare and SLU Campus Kitchens are doing their part to raise New York State’s rating for 2017! Won’t you join us? Take part in our food drive on Monday, January 16^th and help kids who receive healthy food from the Potsdam Snack Packs program and the Canton Golden Bear Packs program. Check out www.gardenshare.org for specifics on what food is needed and  how you can contribute. Let’s work together to make what Dr. King called a “beloved community”!

Child nutrition bill dies

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts has announced that no agreement could be reached in this Congressional session on the pending Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR), which is now more than a year overdue. The CNR is the every-five-year Congressional review and reauthorization of all child nutrition programs, including the school lunch program. The 2010 CNR ushered in new school nutrition standards (more whole grains and more fruits and vegetables). Just two years later, the School Nutrition Association proposed rolling back some of those reforms, a call taken up by conservative House Republicans. The Senate Agriculture Committee hammered out a bipartisan agreement that seemed to satisfy the major stakeholders. But the bill drafted by the House Education & the Workforce Committee would have weakened nutrition standards, significantly limited the Community Eligibility Provision, allowed more junk food on school campuses, and created a three-state block grant pilot for school meals, an idea which some saw as a precursor to dismantling the entire National School Lunch Program.

Source: Civil Eats, 12/7/16, School Meals

How do you feel when you are hungry?

Last Wednesday, Americorps Brianna Blackburn and I joined the pre-school story hour at the Canton Free Library.  Children's Librarian, Valerie White was reading the book, Maddi's Fridge.

After the story, we gave the children paper plates with the words, "When I am hungry, I feel..." and asked them to draw in their responses.

Here are some of their answers...

ANGRY

HUNGRY

SAD

SLEEPY

SAD

How do you feel when you are hungry?

POLICY CHANGES COULD REDUCE CHILDREN’S FOOD INSECURITY

Replacing the maximum SNAP allotment with a benefit that reflects the real cost of a healthy diet, expanding WIC eligibility to age 6, and maintaining the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the National School Lunch (NSLP) and Breakfast Programs (SBP) may effectively address the needs of many families who experience food insecurity and increase access to healthy options, according to a new policy brief released by Children's HealthWatch. Using simulation modeling techniques, researchers looked at three policy changes currently being debated in Congress. By replacing the Thrifty Food Plan with the Low-Cost Plan, they found that 5.3% of SNAP-participant families with children who are currently food insecure would become fully food secure over the course of one year. If WIC’s age eligibility rose to 6, food insecurity among WIC-eligible 5-year-olds and their families would drop by 1.5% reduction; this means 13,208 families would become fully food secure in the first year of the study.

Source: Children’s Health Watch,  10/10/16, Children's Food Insecurity

SCHOOL LUNCH GUIDELINES LEAD TO BETTER HEALTH

New federal school lunch guidelines are doing what they were designed to do: improving nutrition for school-age children and reducing childhood obesity, according to a study recently published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Under the new guidelines, the total calories of the students' lunch choices decreased 4%. Calories from fat decreased 18% and those from sodium decreased 8%. Researchers combined lunch sales data collected at the register with data on student absences to show how the nutritional content of National School Lunch Program (NSLP) entrées chosen by students varied across different socioeconomic and demographic groups and how the choices affected their health. The responses to the school lunch nutritional changes varied by socioeconomic and demographic groups. Students who received free and reduced-price lunches were more likely to choose entrées with a higher fat content and less likely to select entrées with higher sodium content. Students paying full price made opposite choices--they were more likely to choose high-salt entrees and reject those high in fat.

Source: MedicalXPress, 10/13/16, School Lunch Changes

SNAP benefits children's health and economic outcomes

While SNAP benefits average just $1.35 per person per meal for households with children, they have surprisingly important effects on children’s health, education, and long-term outcomes. SNAP enables families to spend more on food and frees up resources they can use to meet their health and other needs.  Studies show that children receiving SNAP are less likely than other low-income children not receiving SNAP to be in fair or poor health or underweight, and their families are less likely to make tradeoffs between paying for health care and paying for other basic needs, like food and housing. Researchers comparing the long-term outcomes of people in different areas of the country when SNAP expanded nationwide in the 1960s and early 1970s found that disadvantaged children who had access to food stamps in early childhood and whose mothers had access during their pregnancy had better health and economic outcomes as adults than children who didn’t have access to food stamps.

Source: Center for Budget & Policy Priorities, 10/7/16, Long-Term SNAP Benefits