Dear Editor,
According to the USDA, one in every five U.S. households experience “food insecurity”, which means they can run out of money and food in any given month and go hungry. The Stop Child Hunger Act of 2015, introduced by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Susan Davis (D-CA), and the Summer Meals Act of 2015, introduced by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Representatives Don Young (R-AK) and Rick Larsen (D-WA), both offer another food source/resource to get food to families with low income during the summer months when children cannot receive the benefits of the free and reduced priced school meals.
The Stop Child Hunger Act of 2015 would provide low-income families with children a Summer EBT Card, if they qualify for free or reduced priced school meals, to purchase food at retail stores. According to FRAC (Food Research & Action Center), this bill targets children and offers benefits of $150 per summer to each eligible child.
The Summer Meals Act would strengthen, protect, and expand access to the Summer Nutrition Programs. These programs provide federal funding to serve nutritious meals and snacks during summer break when children lose access to free and reduced-price school meals.
Also according to FRAC, the bill, The Summer Meals Act, proposes that there will be improved eligibility to allow community-based organizations to participate if 40 percent of the children in the area are eligible to free or reduced-price meals, in difference to the current system where summer meal sites require 50 percent of children in the area to qualify. It will fund transportation and mobile meal trucks, and allow sites to serve a third meal.
This Act and the Stop Child Hunger Act both are meant to be a resource in addition to the existing Summer Nutrition Programs to stop child hunger.
Please show your support for these bills by contacting you federal legislators: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at (202) 224-4451, Senator Charles Schumer at (202) 224-6542, Representative Tom Reed at (202) 225-3161, and Representative Richard Hanna at (202) 225-3665.
Please consider donating to your local food pantry, whom could be stressed trying to help families in need even more during the summer; every donation could help.
No child should go to bed hungry but many right here in Tioga County do, let’s try to change that.
Sincerely,
Briana Tillotson
Summer Youth Program at Catholic Charities
