Summer Is No Picnic for Hungry Children Missing School Meals
Food Research and Action Center:
About 2.8 million children received meals at parks, schools, religious congregations, recreational programs, and other community sites through U.S. Department of Agriculture summer meals programs on an average day in July 2005.
Unfortunately, that represented only 18 children for every 100 who receive a free or reduced-price school lunch in the regular school year, according to the new report "Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation" from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).
"The federal government's summer meals programs are supposed to serve all children who need the meals.
Weill pointed out that Congress could restart summer meal program growth just by expanding to all states the successful Simplified Summer Food Program (formerly the "Lugar pilot" program).
This proven strategy simplifies the federal program's cost accounting and paperwork rules and thereby allows for modestly higher meal reimbursement rates.
FRAC's report ranks states by assessing their performance in reaching needy youngsters with either Summer Food Service Program or National School Lunch Program summer meals, compared to regular school year meals.
If all states performed just at the level achieved by the jurisdictions that achieved the best records (40 students served in the summer for every 100 served during the regular school year), FRAC estimates the federal programs would feed another 3.5 million children and provide a total of $188.8 million in additional federal funds.
"Summer meals programs are effective weapons in the fight against obesity as well," said FRAC Director of Child Nutrition Policy Lynn Parker.
