Pandemic Pushes U.S. Child Hunger To The Brink
ACROSS AMERICA — Long before the coronavirus made its way to the United States, millions of children were going to bed hungry each night.
A year ago, national food insecurity levels were at a 20-year low, according to data compiled by Feeding America, one of the largest hunger relief organizations in the United States. Despite the milestone, though, 35 million people — including more than 10 million children — still lived in food-insecure households.
The coronavirus pandemic only exacerbated the problem.
Record-setting unemployment and sudden health care expenses are among reasons why the pandemic has caused a dramatic spike in the number of hungry Americans. For kids, the loss of school breakfast and lunch added a huge financial burden to already cash-strapped families.
The result? The number of hungry Americans nearly tripled between 2019 and August of this year, according to an analysis of data from the Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
What’s more alarming is that the number of children who sometimes don’t have enough to eat is 14 times higher than it was last year. Another projection by Feeding America says as many as 1 in 4 children could be food insecure by the end of 2020.
RELATED: Millions Made Hungry By Pandemic Could Include Your Neighbor
And to make matters worse, the negative effects of the coronavirus — on school budgets, employment, the U.S. economy, and child food insecurity — will almost certainly be long-lasting and aren’t likely to fade away with the pandemic, said Hollie Baker-Lutz, director of equitable access at Feeding America.
“No child should go hungry,” Baker-Lutz said. “Now or ever.”
Help Is Available
Feeding America is just one reputable network of food banks and pantries. The organization operates 200 food banks in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
More Americans are relying on charitable food assistance to make ends meet. That is why, according to Baker-Lutz, food banks are seeing a “perfect storm” of surges in demand, declining food donations, fewer volunteers and disruptions to overall operating procedures.
The organization offers several resources to help parents and guardians struggling to put food on the table. It also provides ways you can help those affected:
Parents can find their local food bank and contact the food bank that serves their area. The food bank will be able to give information on free pantries and programs nearby. A variety of low- or no-contact options is now available in many areas, including seniors-only hours, drive-thru pantries, expanded home delivery services, and more.
Families can reach out to their school to learn how to sign up for free or reduced-price school meals and how to access those meals if the school is doing remote learning.
Parents can explore federal programs to help make ends meet during difficult times, such as SNAP, Child Nutrition Programs and WIC. Visit this page for more information.
Other resources for parents and families in need of food include:
People who want to help their neighbors in need can do so in several ways:
Donate to Feeding America. To support their community or affected communities directly, use the Feeding America food bank locator.
Follow your local food bank on social media to learn how it is responding to the pandemic in its community. Food banks often share information about what help they need, whether it is funds or volunteers.
Contact your local food bank to learn about volunteer opportunities.
Child Hunger Is Changing
Food insecurity among U.S. children was prevalent long before the pandemic.
Prior to the coronavirus, more than 22 million children relied on the National School Lunch Program, a federal program that provides free or reduced-price lunch to kids at more than 100,000 U.S. schools each school day. About 12.5 million also received free and reduced-price breakfast, according to the School Nutrition Association.
While unemployment rates have improved in recent months compared with the beginning of the pandemic, the economy still has not fully recovered.
Additionally, people are paying higher prices for their groceries during the pandemic — in April, the United States saw a nearly 50-year record rise in food costs, according to Feeding America. This makes it harder for people and families dealing with job and income losses to afford food.
As a result, 1 in 6 people could be food insecure by the end of 2020, Feeding America predicts — up from 1 in 9 people in 2019. This includes 1 in 4 children.
The projections also say any progress made in reducing hunger in the United States will likely be wiped out because of the coronavirus, sending food insecurity to levels not seen since the Great Depression.
For families with children, the school lunch program plays a critical role in lowering food costs at home, according to Crystal FitzSimons, director of school programs at Food Research and Action Center, a national nonprofit organization working to eradicate poverty-related hunger. When children lose access to that food — as they typically do during summer months — food insecurity rates tend to go up.
Families know they need to pay bills such as for rent and electricity, but “you can change your budget for food,” FitzSimons said. This means food is one of the primary things families will scale back on when money is tight.
So when the pandemic began in March, prompting schools nationwide to quickly shut their doors, FitzSimons likened it to summer. In this case, however, schools “didn’t have the opportunity to plan ahead.”
“When we thought schools would end up closing, we knew there would be a huge crisis,” FitzSimons said. “The minute we knew schools were closing, we talked about how schools and communities needed to figure out solutions.”
Baker-Lutz with Feeding America called it an “unprecedented” situation.
School districts nationwide had to scramble to piece together a meal program for students, who for weeks were forced to continue — or, in most cases, conclude — the school year from home.
“It was a challenge for school districts to rapidly shift the way they distribute meals,” Baker-Lutz said.
Parents and families also had to overcome hurdles including transportation and scheduling barriers, as well as a lack of knowledge on what options were available to them, FitzSimons said.
Today, the ability of kids and their families to access school lunches has evolved. But in the process, officials have uncovered new challenges.
Among the largest was the need for school districts to develop three separate plans to feed students who were enrolled in online learning, in-person learning or a combination of the two.
“All three approaches require a different response,” Baker-Lutz said. “Food banks had to work on contingency plans based on whether districts would be able to reach students.”
Fighting Back
With assistance from food banks, communities and the federal government, most school districts succeeded in reaching students who rely on them for meals.
School districts across the country came up with solutions that ranged from community distribution sites to “grab and go”-style meals that families could pick up, said Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut.
“Going from your child having a guaranteed 10 meals a week to none at all was a huge blow to food-insecure families,” Schwartz said. “Districts were really able to figure out strategies to reach the most vulnerable.”
Many of the most successful strategies were made possible through USDA regulatory waivers that essentially allowed schools to transition into de facto community feeding centers. This included granting districts permission to implement grab-and-go meal distribution and to allow parents to pick up food on behalf of their kids.
Without the waivers, districts would have to turn away hungry kids.
The USDA also gave schools the green light to serve children food at no cost, including those too young for school, not eligible for free or reduced meals, or enrolled in private institutions.
Legislation passed by Congress played a role in curbing child hunger as well. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the CARES Act, both passed earlier in the pandemic, provided critical investments for families facing hunger.
In the Families First legislation, Congress allowed states to issue one-time food assistance benefits to households with children who had temporarily lost access to free or reduced-price school meals due to pandemic-related school closures. The benefits were issued to kids in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.
According to a study done by the Brookings Institution, the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) program succeeded in reducing food insecurity among low-income families with children, lifting anywhere from 2.7 million to 3.9 million children out of hunger.
Many federal assistance initiatives have been extended through the end of this calendar year or the end of the academic year.
In September, Congress reached an agreement on federal spending for FY2020, which included an extension of the Pandemic EBT program. The spending bill also extended flexibilities in programs affecting child nutrition; the Women, Infant, Children program (WIC); and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly referred to as food stamps.
On Oct. 9, the USDA and Congress extended the Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option waivers through the end of the 2020-21 academic year. Extending the waivers allowed school districts to offer meals to all children at no charge.
While no research exists yet detailing how many children and families are taking advantage of food options through their school district, Schwartz said she’s heard anecdotal evidence from school districts in Connecticut suggesting usage is strong.
“Some districts have said they served the same number of children as those who typically eat free and reduced meals,” Schwartz said.
Meanwhile, food banks and pantries are working closely with school districts to ensure kids have access to food this school year.
The Feeding America network serves more than 12 million U.S. children and, in addition to providing families traditional access to food pantries, also offers specialized programs to help provide meals to kids.
Food banks also work with school districts to provide food through the School Pantry and BackPack programs. However, once schools closed, food banks also had to change the way they do things, Baker-Lutz said.
In many cases, food banks continued to team with schools to make sure families received enough food. Workers shifted to packing family boxes that contained enough food for the entire household, and families would pick up the boxes alongside grab-and-go school meals. Other food banks delivered food to centralized community locations or delivered food directly to homes. Some worked with school bus companies to use bus fleets in order to deliver meals to students.
Food banks also are working with community organizations such as local YMCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs, and libraries to ensure children have access to meals. Meanwhile, industry leaders such as Baker-Lutz work to keep lawmakers and USDA officials in Washington, D.C., regularly updated on the increased demand for food assistance.
But food pantries can’t do it alone, Baker-Lutz said.
Congress needs to pass another bipartisan coronavirus relief package, she added, one that ensures “families facing hunger can put food on the table.”
“Hunger is not a partisan issue, and families facing hunger are in crisis,” Baker-Lutz said. “Children facing hunger are depending on our elected officials in Washington coming together so they have access to adequate meals.”
While it's difficult to predict the future, no one thinks child hunger will disappear with the coronavirus. And most believe more needs to be done, both now and beyond the pandemic.
There are several ways Congress can work to strengthen the federal safety net, experts say. One meaningful action that can be taken now includes increasing SNAP benefits by 15 percent for the duration of the economic downturn.
“SNAP is the first line of defense against hunger — for every meal Feeding America provides, SNAP provides nine,” Baker-Lutz said.
Schwartz said the issue comes down to making a significant investment in the food system, one that turns the system on its head in order to make healthy foods more affordable than those with no nutritional value.
Congress also needs to address the economic factors contributing to food insecurity — factors including the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
Experts agree lawmakers need to provide more money to programs that help Americans struggling with food insecurity. Because without significant action and investment, they say, hunger won’t ease after the pandemic.
“The government has responded to help many families, but they could be doing more,” FitzSimons said. “More investment will make sure all kids in all households can access meals and keep hunger at bay.”
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"The Impact of Coronavirus On Food Insecurity"
Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 54 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.
This article originally appeared on the Across America Patch
