LOW-INCOME CHILDREN SUFFER OVER THE SUMMER

Families who rely on government food programs to keep their fridges stocked don’t have the financial resources to feed themselves when those programs disappear, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed what happened in the summer months when low-income children don’t have access to school breakfast and lunch programs. The study found that when families didn’t have access to school meal programs, they changed their household spending and spent more money on food at home. But the spending increase was minimal — less than $2 per week per child, the researchers found. That’s not nearly enough to cover the lost value of the school breakfast and lunch programs, which amount to $25 a week. And it falls well short of the more than $32 a week that the USDA says a school-age child needs for a nutritious diet.

Source: Market Watch, 8/1/17, Summer Food Lacking

CHECKING OUT FREE LUNCH AT THE LIBRARY

Librarians used to forbid any food or drink to avoid staining books and attracting pests; they scolded people who tried to sneak snacks in the stacks. But, now, they are the ones putting food on the table. This summer, hundreds of libraries are serving federally funded summer meals to children to ensure that they don’t go hungry. The change is part of an effort to stay relevant to patrons and to pair nutrition and educational activities so low-income children get summertime learning, too. Librarians and anti-hunger advocates in California, Ohio, Virginia and New York all reported sizable increases in participation after a concerted recruitment effort spread from state to state through webinars, librarian conferences and word of mouth. In 2014, the USDA started recommending libraries as potential partners, and has an online tool to connect them to sponsors. In 2016, public libraries in California provided over 203,000 meals for children at 139 sites, up from just 17 in 2013. Last year, Ohio had 133 library branches serving USDA-funded food, up from 88 in 2014.  New York has more than 115 libraries participating this summer, compared to 36 in 2013.

Source: New York Times, 7/30/17, Summer Meals at Libraries

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

Summer food for kids

With 51% of St. Lawrence County's children receiving a free or reduced-price lunch at school, you have to wonder how those kids are eating healthy meals in the summer.  We know that our local food pantries see an influx of families in the summer as their grocery budgets are being stretched.

This morning, Channel 7 had a story about the Summer Food Service Program in Jefferson County, where they have 34 sites providing meals and activities for children in need during the summer.

St. Lawrence County has only a handful of these programs across a much larger geography.  Makes one wonder what we could do differently here to make sure our children have healthy diets, doesn't it?

New ways to get food to kids when school is out

Nearly 21.5 million kids. are eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals, yet according to a 2016 report from the Food Research Action Center, only 1 in 6 of them receives that benefit over summer break.  Lack of transportation and difficulties communicating with families are often cited as barriers to summer meal participation. One way to overcome these barriers is to give families electronic benefits over the summer rather than require their children to go to a summer meals site.  Seven states currently allow this possibility. Another suggestion is to make the Summer Food Program part of the National School Lunch Plan. This would make it easier for groups that run both after-school and summer programs to feed children year round instead of having to operate two child nutrition programs with slightly different rules. It would also cut down on paperwork and administrative costs and potentially encourage more groups to sponsor sites. Other proposals include allocating funds for transportation to and from sites and lowering from 50% to 40% the eligibility requirement of kids in a school district who need to qualify for free and reduced-priced lunch in order for the district to offer summer meals.

Source: The 74, 8/17/16, Summer Meals

HOSPITALS CAN PROVIDE SUMMER MEALS

Federal laws require nonprofit hospitals to (1) help improve the health and well-being of the local communities they serve in order to maintain their nonprofit status and (2) complete a Community Health Needs Assessment, in collaboration with public health experts and community representatives, that identifies significant community health challenges in need of interventions. Taken together, these requirements extend community benefit activities to include things like “access to adequate nutrition” and other social determinants of illness. These assessments can provide opportunities for nonprofit hospitals to partner with the USDA Summer Food Service and other federally funded nutrition programs. Hospitals could serve free healthy in their clinics and cafeterias to children visiting the hospital for appointments or when they accompany family members being cared for as patients. Additionally, the sites can be “open,” thus allowing children in the community to receive a free meal.

Source: Food Research & Action Council, 8/16, Summer Meals at Hospitals

SUMMER MEALS HELP FAMILIES

USDA’s Summer Meals Program provides kids with the nutrition they need when school is out, and a safe haven where they can play and learn to keep their minds and bodies active during the summer months. The availability of these meals, which are served at no cost to children 18 and under, also reduces the financial burden on caretakers when school is out. In the summer of 2015, roughly 3.8 million children and teens were served nearly 191 million meals were served to children and teens at more than 66,000 sites across the country. Rural areas are particularly difficult to serve, but states are coming up with ways to meet the challenge. Some of these could work in urban areas, too.  A school district in Southeast Kansas retrofitted a bus with tables, booths, and bookshelves to create a Meals and Reading Vehicle, MARV, that will serve lunch on weekdays during the summer in three low-income neighborhoods to .The California Summer Meal Coalition and the California Library Association have joined to provide summer meal sites at libraries. Over the last three years the number of library meals sites has grown from 20 to more than 125.

Source: USDA, 7/26/16, Summer Meals

HUNGER DOESN’T TAKE A SUMMER VACATION

After three years of significant growth, national participation in the Summer Nutrition Programs plateaued last summer. During July 2015, the programs served nearly 3.2 million low-income children across the country, a modest increase of 11,000 participants from July 2014. The Child Nutrition Reauthorization currently being considered by Congress provides an important opportunity to invest in the Summer Nutrition Programs so that more children return to school in the fall, well-nourished and ready to learn. A new report measures the success of the summer programs both in absolute numbers and as a ratio of the number of children receiving summer meals to the number of low-income children receiving school lunch during the regular school year. By that latter measure, fewer than one in six children who needed summer nutrition received it in 2015. Even though total participation in Connecticut decreased from 2014 to 2015, at about 25%, the state’s ratio of summer participants was among the top 5 in the nation.

Source: Food Research Action Council, 6/14/16, Summer Meals

Summer food programs successful in Vermont

While the distances and low population density of the North Country make providing summer meals to children in need challenging, our neighbors in Vermont seem to have figured it out.

The Food Research and Action Center’s summer meals report found that Vermont’s rank in serving children free summer meals improved from fourth to third and average daily participation in the state increased 14 percent in July 2015 compared to July 2014. The number of summer meal sites also increased six percent.

“The rural nature of our state presents unique challenges for sponsors who provide summer meals to children,” said Marissa Parisi, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont. The organization has been working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and local communities to feed more children summer meals at sites including libraries, day care centers, and housing developments.

What can we learn from their work?


Vermont ranks 3rd for providing summer meals for children at risk of hunger – Vermontbiz.com, June 14, 2016

SUMMER ELECTRONIC BENEFITS REDUCE CHILD HUNGER

Providing low-income children with $30 to $60 a month during the summer reduced severe food insecurity, according to a USDA report. The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children (Summer EBTC) demonstration project was also associated with positive nutrition changes in participating children. the Summer EBT demonstration project provides parents or guardians of children eligible for free and reduced-price meals with a monthly benefit via a debit-type card that can be redeemed for food purchases throughout summer when children do not have access to school meals.  Providing low-income children $30 or $60 per month per child during the summer reduced the most severe type of food insecurity by one-third.  A $60 per month per child benefit cut less severe food insecurity by 10%.

Source: USDA, 5/11/16, Summer Benefits

HOUSE COMMITTEE WORKS ON CHILD NUTRITION BILL

The House Education and Workforce Committee, on which Representative Stefanik serves, completed drafting its bill last week to reauthorize the Child Nutrition and Education Act. The bill, critics contend, contains a number of damaging provisions, including: shrinking coverage of the community eligibility provision and inadequately investing in the Summer Food Service Program and the Child and Adult Care Food Program. The bill would reduce access to the programs, water down nutrition quality, and increase administrative burdens on both schools and families, they say. 
 
This legislation also includes a three-state school meal block grant demonstration pilot to replace School Breakfast, Lunch and other school meal programs. The funding would be capped at the amount a state received for the programs and administrative funding in FY 2016. The pilot states would have broad discretion to:

• establish eligibility rules for free or reduced-price meals;
• decide the length or time of year that meals are provided;
• and abandon the current nutrition standards (meals are only required to be “healthy”).

Source: Food Research  & Action Council, 5/18/16, Child Nutrition Bill; Center for Budget & Policy Priorities, 5/17/16, Child Nutrition Bill II

Power up with summer meals in schools

USDA and Department of Education are pleased to invite you to the iForum: Power Up with Summer Meals in Schools!! – co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday, May 11th, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM ET.

This online webinar will discuss proven strategies for community stakeholders to develop and expand USDA Summer Meals Programs in partnership with local schools.  Please sign up HERE, and forward the invitation to peers who might benefit from this information.

USDA Summer Meals Programs help close the nutrition gap children face over the summer months—a time when children no longer receive school meals they relied on throughout the school year. USDA reports that 22 million children and teens receive free and reduced-priced meals through the National School Lunch Program, yet only about 1 in 5 of those (around 3.8 million) participate in summer meal programs.

Participants of this iForum will gain clarity about how USDA Summer Meals Programs operate, and learn from school districts that have overcome obstacles to administer the programs effectively. We will be joined by the Port Huron Area School District in Michigan, and Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, who will share their inspiring success stories.

During this exciting session, we will:

• Introduce USDA Summer Meals Programs and provide an overview on how the program operates;
• Hear how the school districts have overcome challenges in their journey to operating successful summer meals programsAnswer your questions

Again, please RSVP HERE, and forward the invitation to others who might benefit from this information. We will send an iForum log-in and call-in number prior to Wednesday, May 11th. We hope you will join us for this extraordinary convening. Thank you for all you do on behalf of children, youth, and families. 

Webinar: Farm to Summer: Incorporating local foods in Summer Food Service Programs

MSU Center for Regional Food Systems

May 3, 2016 2:00-3:30 pm ET

Summer Food Service Programs can be an ideal time to start looking at local purchasing. At the height of the Michigan farming season, there is more local product available than at any other time in the year. Farmers are often willing to sell seconds or bulk surpluses at a discounted rate, and what better way to take advantage of those than in your Summer Food Service Program! Join the Michigan Department of Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, and MSU Center for Regional Food Systems for an interactive and informative webinar covering all things Farm to Summer. Hear about farm to summer programs happening in Michigan, learn how to incorporate local purchasing into your site’s meal program, and see how Farm to Summer programs can increase nutritional quality of meals and boost participation rates. Register here. 

Help kids get meals in the summer

HOW DOES THIS PROGRAM WORK?

Purpose: To serve free, healthy meals to low-income children and teens during summer months when school is out. 

Where: Any safe place for kids (for example: school, park, rec center, library, faith organization, etc.) can be a summer meal site.

Who: Summer meal sites receive meals from local sponsoring organizations (for example: Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, local school district, etc.).  Sponsors prepare the food (or order it), deliver it to the meal site, and are reimbursed by USDA for the costs.

Eligibility: Any meal site open to the public is eligible if it is in a school attendance area where 50% or more children qualify for free and reduced-priced school meals.  If it is not open to the public (for example: a summer camp), 50% of more of the enrolled students must qualify for free and reduced-priced school meals.

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HOW DO I BECOME A SITE OR SPONSOR?

Contact your State Agency that operates the program for your state.  They will provide information about the eligibility of your area and local sponsors that serve meals to sites.

We encourage you to learn if sites are already nearby in your community before starting a new one.  Through community outreach and promotion of the program, you can increase the number of children participating in sites that already exist. 

Learn about sites that may have been in your community last summer, and nearby organizations that can work with sites through USDA's Summer Meals Capacity Builder.  It will be updated with 2016 meal sites closer to summer time.

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WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?

Summer Meals Short Videos: Watch these inspiring YouTube videos about the program.

USDA Summer Meals Toolkit: Learn tips for getting the word out through community planning and outreach, success stories, and more.

Summer Food, Summer Moves Toolkit: Explore fun games that children can play at sites.

Summer EBT extended, but not to the North Country

USDA recently announced $26.9 million in grant funds to be distributed among eight grantees to continue administering pilots of the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) programs, providing summertime nutrition assistance to children who receive free and reduced price meals during the school year. In addition to funding existing pilots for summer2016, these grants will extend benefits to new rural areas, Tribal Nations, and areas of extreme need.  Unfortunately, the North Country is not among the areas receiving this funding.

Summer EBT provides a monthly benefit on a debit-type card that can be used throughout the summer for food purchases at authorized stores. Summer EBT is a complement to traditional summer meals programs, which offer no cost summer meals at approved sites, and is especially valuable in areas with limited or no access to traditional summer meals programs.

Summer EBT, which is currently operating as demonstration project, was first funded by Congress in 2010. Rigorous evaluations of these pilots found that Summer EBT can significantly reduce very low food security among children, the most severe form of food insecurity, by one-third. Studies also showed that these additional resources enabled families to eat more healthfully, eating significantly more fruits and vegetables and whole grains – key building blocks to better health. Based on these proven successes, the President's proposed plan would allow Summer EBT to reach nearly 20 million children once fully implemented.

SENATE BILL ADDRESSES SUMMER HUNGER

The Senate Agriculture Committee’s revisions to the Child Nutrition Act seek to narrow current gaps that can leave low-income children without enough nutritious food, especially over the summer when free and reduced-price school meals end, there are no more free snacks in after-school programs. And SNAP benefits don’t increase to cover a family’s extra costs. The bill goes at the summer hunger problem in three different ways. First, it would allow some Summer Meal Program sites to serve meals kids can eat at home, though the program usually requires “congregate feeding.” Second, the bill tries to simplify administration for non-school sponsors that offer both after-school and summer programs. They now have to do all the paperwork for each separately and comply with two different sets of standards. Third, the bill creates a limited option to the summer feeding program. States could issue electronic benefits transfer cards, loaded with $30 per month, per child to some parents.

Source: Poverty & Policy, 2/1/16, Senate Child Nutrition Bill

FOOD FOR KIDS IN THE SUMMER

The President’s FY2017 Budget will invest $12 billion over 10 years on a permanent Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) program to provide supplemental food benefits during the summer months for all families with children eligible for free and reduced price school meals.  Currently only a fraction of the children eligible to receive free and reduced-price meals during the school year get them when school is not in session.  Summer EBT provides benefits on an electronic debit card that can only be used for food at the grocery store and fills the food budget gap in the summer. Rigorous evaluations of Summer EBT pilot programs have found that they can significantly reduce food insecurity among children and improve their diet.

Source: White House Press Office, 1/27/16, Summer EBT

Improving child nutrition programs - action needed

Across the North Country, children are going back to school this week.  For some of them, the highlight of getting back in school is having a healthy meal at lunchtime, and maybe even breakfast.  In St. Lawrence County, more than half of our children qualify for free meals at school.  Did you ever wonder where they eat in the summer?

Congress has a chance to do something about this challenge and help ensure that all of our children have healthy diets, for The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act expires on September 30.  This legislation authorizes the following programs:  National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Summer Food Service Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (commonly known as WIC).  Failing to pass this legislation puts all of these programs at risk.

In the course of the conversations about these programs in Washington, our elected officials have started to understand some of the challenges of these programs, particularly the Summer Food Service Program, face in rural areas.   While the Summer Food Service Program was designed to serve children who get a free lunch during the school year, there are particular challenges implementing this program in rural areas like St. Lawrence County.  The current legislation requires that the meals be served at a central site that has an enrichment activity - a good idea, but hard to do with the distances involved here.  The program also requires that at least 50% of children in a district be eligible for the free meals in order to have a site - also challenging in places where the poverty is less concentrated than in urban areas.

However, some great ideas have come up as it relates to that question of where the kids from low-income families eat in the summer. One idea is to remove the requirement for on-site feeding, so meals could be delivered via other models to children in remote communities.  Another idea is to lower the threshold for a summer food site to 40% of the area children being eligible for a free meal - this would also help our small towns.  Finally, there has been conversation about streamlining and simplifying some of these programs, including the idea of providing families with extra benefits on their EBT cards for food purchases while their children are out of school.  This last model has been piloted and tested successfully in a number of communities around the nation.

What can you do?  Senator Gillibrand and Congresswoman Stefanik sit on the respective committees considering this legislation in the Senate and the House.  Send each of them an e-mail urging them to support alternatives in the Summer Food Service program that will help rural communities, including the summer EBT option, the non-congregate meal model, and streamlining of the program.

Here's where to contact them:

Senator Gillibrand

Congresswoman Stefanik

FLURRY OF BILLS TO EXPAND SUMMER MEALS

The upcoming deadline to reauthorize the Health, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010  has triggered a surge of bills in Congress to give more children access to more meals during the summer.  While participation has risen in recent years, only  about 3.6 million, or 16% of the nearly 22 million children who receive free and reduced-price lunches during the school year participate in federal summer nutrition programs. One bill, co-sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), would make it easier for more  organizations to qualify to participate in summer meals programs by lowering from 50% to 40% the qualifying percentage of children living in the area served by a community-based organization or school who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. This is the same level for summer programs that receive federal funding under Title I or 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants. The bill would also streamline the summer meals application process so children who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals during the school year and attend summer programs run by the same providers don't have to reapply. It provides transportation grants to make sure that children in rural and other underserved areas have access to summer meals, and it would reimburse summer programs for providing up to three meals a day instead of two. An identical version has been introduced in the House by Donald Young (R-AK), and Rick Larsen  (D-WA). Another bill in the House and Senate, called the Stop Child Summer Hunger Act of 2015, would give families an electronic benefit transfer card to buy food over the summer.  The cards would be loaded with $150 for each child in the family who qualifies for free and reduced-price lunch during the school year.

Source: Education Week, 8/4/15, Summer Meals Bills

Clarkson University Professor Helps Run Potsdam Neighborhood Center Summer Lunch Program

Everywhere he has lived, Clarkson University Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Ali Boolani has strived to help feed the children in his community.

Boolani and his daughter would spend weekends preparing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to distribute to children in need when they lived in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Georgia and Louisiana. After arriving in Potsdam, N.Y. in 2014, he approached the Potsdam Neighborhood Center about starting a PB&J program there.

Boolani said his community supported him when he was growing up as an immigrant in the United States, so he wants to give back to the next generation. By volunteering with his daughter, he hopes to share an appreciation for helping others.

"My goal is to be there for the kids because somewhere someone was there for me," he said.

The PB&J program this year is supplying 25 lunches per day, five days a week throughout July and part of August while school is out for the summer. Lunches include sandwiches, fruit, a cracker snack, yogurt and water, and the meals are distributed through the Pine Street Arena Recreation program.

Potsdam Neighborhood Center Director Daisy Cox said unlike areas with more concentrated populations, the North Country faces a summer feeding program conundrum. In order to have a congregate summer food program that is financially viable, the organization has to serve a large number of children. Because of the long distances between communities, children would have to be bussed in to a site to receive meals.

Moreover, Cox said the need for summer feeding programs is growing. While some areas of the economy seem to be improving, Cox said she has observed a 27 percent increase of children in need of food in the North Country.

"We need to be mindful that while we've had some economic growth, it's not enough to carry an entire family," she said.

Boolani is collaborating with the Potsdam Neighborhood Center to determine how to expand PB&J and reach more children throughout the summer.

"Our vision is to grow this, and the more lives we can touch, the better," he said.

PB&J is supported with grants and gifts from donors, including members the community, the Youth Philanthropy Council of the Northern New York Community Foundation and Walmart. The program also relies on the help of volunteers to coordinate the distribution of lunches during the day.

People interested in supporting PB&J can call the Potsdam Neighborhood Center at 315-265-3920, or send donations to 2 Park St., Potsdam, NY 13676. The Potsdam Neighborhood Center is one of many programs administered by the local community action agency, St. Lawrence County Community Development Program.