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Be a Rock Star - Support Summer Meals for Kids
It's officially the summer and that means a lot of different things for people. Unfortunately for the millions of children in the United States that rely on schools to get their breakfast and lunch meals, it means the summer is the time that they are the hungriest. Yet, we can all do something about it. Each year, WhyHunger teams up with the USDA and organizations across the country to help fill the gap during the summer for children who receive free or reduced in-school meal programs during the school year. For 9 months of the year, more than 21 million children rely on free and reduced priced meals provided by the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, but only 3.8 million participate in USDA's summer meal programs. The Summer Food Service Program provides free, nutritious meals for kids at local organizations, like schools, recreation centers, playgrounds, parks, churches, summer camps and more all over the country - all summer long. However, these locations tend to change year to year - that's where you and WhyHunger come in!
WhyHunger's Summer Meals Rock for Kids campaign creates awareness about the summer meals program, and activates celebrity auctions and artist ambassadors that raise funds to support the national WhyHunger Hotline and our comprehensive database that is updated regularly and now includes over 14,000 summer meal locations to connect families in need to free, healthy food closest to them.
To find your closest Summer Food Service Program summer meals site:
- Call the WhyHunger Hotline at 1-800-5HUNGRY (1-800-548-6479) for service in both Spanish and English. The hotline is open Monday through Friday, from 9:00am to 6:00pm EST
- Text "summer" and your zip code to 1-800-548-6479 to get a location within minutes
- Visit whyhunger.org/summermealsearch
to find a site online.
And here's how you help. Spread the word about these resources to your network and community by:
- Downloading and distributing our Summer Food Service Program flyers at your local community centers, schools and libraries
- Adding a graphic to your blog, website or social media pages
- Asking your local radio station to play a free Public Service Announcement about the Summer Food Service Program
You can find these materials and more at: whyhunger.org/summermeals
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More on strategies to end childhood hunger in the summer from WhyHunger's co-founder Bill Ayres. Published recently in the Huffington Post:
"One in five children in America lives in poverty. Summer is the time when more children are hungry than at any other time of the year because they are not receiving free school meals during the week. That means that their families have to provide for some 150 meals during the summer just for one child. For a family with two or more children earning $15,000 or less, or even earning twice as much, the cost is a budget breaker. Fortunately, there are government-supported solutions that, with proper support and advocacy, can help all children have a hunger-free summer."
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Hundreds of Thousands to Lose Their SNAP Benefits
During the most recent recession, policies mandating work requirements for able bodied adults receiving SNAP benefits were waived. In 2016, twenty-two states have chosen to reverse that waiver which effectively increased access to food for those struggling financially. These states will once again restrict able bodied adults, an individual from 18 to 49 years of age, without dependents from receiving SNAP benefits for more than three months in a three year period if the adult fails to meet work requirements. Work requirements mean the individual must be in job training, working or volunteering for at least 20 hours a week. Exemptions, such as pregnancy or a documented mental illness, or living in an exempt area, can be granted to certain individuals.
The Ohio Association of Food Banks serves as a good example of a charitable organization advocating and helping individuals whose benefits were about to be cut by the state. While twenty-two states are phasing in work requirements this year, some states phased in work requirements earlier. For example, on January 1, 2014 Ohio dropped the SNAP waiver, which was enacted when unemployment reached high levels during the recession. Now, work requirements are mandatory in all but 16 of the counties in Ohio. Seeking to help individuals to maintain eligibility, Ohio Association of Food Banks sought to find jobs for able bodied individuals without dependents. Detailing their approach, the Ohio Association of Food Banks reported their findings, successes and setbacks. As a result, local community organizations, while navigating financial and logistical challenges such as transportation and background checks, have offered jobs to help adults reach the requirement. While food banks and food pantries continue to step up to help their clients, the legislation can lead to an unfair strain, at least temporarily, on these organizations. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports, other safety net programs rarely exist for able bodied adults making SNAP that much more beneficial for this particular demographic. While reducing SNAP benefits and adding employment and training caveats could be justified in terms of economic costs, the human costs will likely be significant. For example, 350,000 people in Florida and 33,000 people in Pennsylvania are at risk for losing their benefits. The very existence of emergency food providers is already indicative of just how many citizens' rights to nutritious food are failing to be fulfilled. Decreasing access to SNAP benefits for anyone struggling to eat only enlarges the already gaping holes in our social safety net.
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The Food Research and Action Center has a new database which makes it easy to search and determine which schools in a community or state are eligible, or near-eligible, for the Community Eligibility Provision for school year 2016-2017.
Community Eligibility allows schools and local educational agencies with high poverty rates to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students, while also reducing the administrative burden on schools.
By using this database, we can help ensure that more eligible schools will adopt this cost-saving provision.
Learn more about the database and start using it here.
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New research finds that raising SNAP benefits would not only increase low-income households' spending on food but also improve the nutritional quality of their diets. Read the policy brief by The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities here.
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What's SNAP-Ed? Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education is the nutrition promotion and obesity prevention component of SNAP. This program's goal is to increase the probability that a person eligible for SNAP will make healthy food and lifestyle choices that prevent obesity. The new Snap-Ed library will have all of the education information and campaign materials in order for states to provide nutrition education. Go to the website to learn more here.
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Please verify that your organization's profile is accurate in the database. To update your record, email database@whyhunger.org. If your organization is not in the database, please join us here.
The WhyHunger Hotline number is 1-800-5-HUNGRY. Please update your records and find outreach materials here.
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Nourishing Change is a space to share critical thoughts around the systemic change that needs to happen to end hunger and transform the emergency food system. We want to hear from you! Email us at nourish@whyhunger.org
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Nourish Network for the Right to Food
WhyHunger
505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2100
New York, New York 10018
212-629-8850
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Contributors: Bill Ayres, Betty Fermin, Calondra McArthur & Robert McCarthy.
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