The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a wide variety of economic pressures and unique challenges. Many children are facing food insecurity due to school closures around the nation. That’s according to a new report released by Trust for America’s Health.
Adam Lustig is a manager with the nonprofit. He describes what the problem looks like in Georgia:
"In Georgia about 62 percent of students are enrolled in free or reduced price lunch programs. So that means over one million children in Georgia rely on these programs and for many of them these are the only nutritious meals many of them have access to throughout the day."
He has high praise for school districts and agencies that turned their efforts to feeding students who depended on those school meals.
"I think we need to recognize the incredible difficulty of being able to switch a meal delivery program overnight as schools began to close. School districts, with support of local, state, and federal agencies, were able to create meal pick-up sites and deliver meals via bus routes," he states.
Lustig says there are concerns some of these programs are scheduled to end in the fall, and he urges supporters to contact state and federal lawmakers to make sure the benefits continue.
The report states 30 million students in the U.S. participate in the National School Lunch Program and another 12.5 million in the School Breakfast Program.
A national nonprofit is urging state and federal agencies to continue their efforts to battle food insecurity in children, despite the uncertainty in how schools will resume instruction
A recent report by the organization shows some of those programs could soon expire. Visit the website www.tfah.org for more information.