Summer is usually the busiest time of the year for students who rely on free and low-cost lunches during the school year.
The Children’s Hunger Alliance, a state-run non-profit organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger, has about 145 summer dining areas in Ohio where students can have free lunch.
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Judy Mobley said, “Families that have higher food costs, higher gas costs, families who are trying to work and are doing their best through their children to get free meals at school. Eligible, summer is a really, really hard time for them, “said Judy Mobley, president and CEO of Nonprofit. “So we can do anything to feed their children, that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Children 18 years of age and younger can visit one of the summer food sites and get free meals – no registration required.
More than 700,000 children in Ohio – one in four – are struggling with hunger. And every summer, children’s food insecurity increases, said the associate director of Eleni Towns, No Kid Hungary, a national campaign run through Share Our Strength, which aims to reduce hunger and poverty in the United States. Is a non-profit organization working to solve problems.
“We know this is the starving time of the year for millions of children across the country. It’s a real shame,” he said. “It should be a time of fun and relaxation, but we know that many children depend on food.”
The Columbus Recreation and Parks Department runs a summer food program called Go, Lunch! Which offers free meals to everyone aged 1-18. The program served more than 245,000 meals last summer.
Many branches of the Columbus Metropolitan Library between the free lunch places
The 17 branches of the Columbus Metropolitan Library are the dining halls this summer through the Alliance. They started their summer meal last week and will run until the end of August.
Brooke Thomas said, “We know that many of our children, a large part of our population, rely on free and low lunch during the school year, so many children would go hungry if it didn’t happen in the summer.” Are, “said Brooke Thomas, 3540 S. High St. I am the Youth Services Manager at the South High Library Branch
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The library provides milk, a sandwich, fruit and vegetables as part of their summer meal.
Thomas said the South High Branch produces 20 meals a day, but that number can fluctuate as needed. The branch had five students on the first day and 17 students on the second day last week.
Noah Pete, a 13-year-old Bucky Middle School student, went to the South High Library branch for four days in a row to have lunch.
“(The food) is good. It’s free,” he said, as he ate dried cranberries and drank a can of juice.
Sunny Leone, 15, who received a free lunch at the South High Library on Thursday, said, “It really helps families who can’t afford much at home. So bring your children here knowing they can Eat well. It takes a little pressure off the parents’ shoulders. “
Free school meals are about to expire.
School meals have been free for all students across the country since the school closed in the spring of 2020 due to CoVID-19, but the program will expire on June 30, unless Congress extends the waiver. ਕਰਦੀ۔
In March 2020, Congress authorized the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to implement child nutrition exemptions, allowing schools to charge higher rates to provide free meals to all students, regardless of family income. Payment allowed.
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Families did not have to complete applications to receive free school lunches for students, but if the waiver is not extended, it will all expire later this month.
Millions of students cannot afford to buy a full school lunch. The School Nutrition Association’s 2019 survey found that 75% of school districts in the United States have not paid their school meals.
Collective vs. Non-Collective
The congressional exemption also allowed the USDA’s Summer Food Service program to feed students differently over the past two summers.
Under the Federal Nutrition Plan, students are required to eat summer meals onsite (gathering), but students were able to take meals and off-site meals last summer because of COVID-19.
Under non-communal feeding, the children will go to Hunger Alliance parks or a much-needed apartment complex to feed the children.
“We didn’t need them to stay, sit and eat,” Mobley said.
This summer, however, the USDA program requires a collective arrangement for summer meals.
“We can’t feed just one child and take them back to our apartment,” Mobley said. “They have to stay there and eat and give to them. It’s very hard, it’s very hard.”
Prior to CoVID-19, approximately 1.9 million summer meals were served in Ohio when the food was fed collectively. Last year, about 5.9 million summer meals were served in Ohio when children could be fed non-group meals, Mobley said.
Mobley said the Children’s Hunger Alliance had 300 summer food sites last year, nearly doubling this summer.
“If we didn’t have to feed collectively, we could very easily go to churches in the most needy neighborhoods and say, ‘If we give you food, would you give it to us once a day?’ Will you let me out for an hour? ”Said Mobley. .
By not allowing non-communal feeding, “it feels like you are turning away from the children who need you the most,” he said. “We still know that Columbus has much-needed apartment complexes.”
Megan Henry is the Columbus Dispatch K-12 Education Reporter. Visit [email protected] or (614) 559-1758.Follow her on Twitter megankhenry. Sign up here for her educational newsletter.