With School Out, Sen. Brown Discusses Critical Program to Addresses Childhood Hunger, Nutrition During Summer Months
Brown Outlines How Child Nutrition Bill Pending in Congress Would Ensure Healthy Food in Schools While Addressing Childhood Hunger
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Only ten percent of Ohio children who receive nutrition assistance during the school year participate in programs aimed at addressing childhood hunger during the summer months. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today discussed efforts to ensure that the end of the school year does not mean that Ohio children will go hungry during the summer break. A new report released this week found that 18 percent of children are living in poverty - the highest rate in 20 years - and that 17 percent of children live in "food insecure" households that do not always have enough food to meet the needs of their family members.
"Ensuring our children have access to healthy food during the summer is critical. For too many of Ohio's children, the summer break from school can also mean a summer break from good nutrition," Brown said. "The Summer Food Service Program is a critical program that can help stem the crippling cycle of hunger by providing school-aged children breakfast, lunch, or a snack during the summer months."
More than 787,000 Ohio children receive free or reduced-price lunches during the school year. The National School Lunch Program provides free, nutritious meals to children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level and reduced-price lunches between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level. A county-by-county list showing the number of Ohio children that participate in the program can be found HERE.
While child nutrition programs are readily available during the school year, many children go hungry during the summer months. Brown alerted parents and educators to the Summer Food Service Program and released a county-by-county graph of Ohio's nearly 1,500 sites that participate in this program aimed at ensuring that Ohio's children receive proper nutrition year-round. The Summer Food Service Program, which was established to provide school-aged children breakfast, lunch, or a snack during the summer months, operates out of schools, summer camps, park and recreation centers, and churches and community centers in Ohio. A full list of summer feeding sites can be found on Brown's Web site HERE. An interactive map is available through the Ohio Department of Education. To locate the neatest Summer Food Service Program Sponsor, click HERE.
Brown also discussed a new report outlining the challenges of addressing childhood hunger in rural areas - more than a dozen counties in Ohio do not have any summer nutrition programs operating within their confines. Transportation arrangements, low population density and lack of desire for the child to leave the home in the summer are three major barriers contributing to the lack of summer feeding sites in rural and low-income areas of Ohio.
As Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition and Family Farms, Brown outlined how the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 would reduce childhood hunger and ensure that more healthy foods are served in schools. His Hunger Free Schools Act, which would help reduce paperwork and enroll more students in childhood nutrition programs through direct certification, was the centerpiece of the anti-hunger component of the bill passed through the Senate Agriculture Committee in March. Brown's bill would help more families enroll in the national school lunch program, one of the most important programs designed to alleviate childhood hunger.
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