Thirty million kids stand to benefit from
hard-fought policy win by No Kid Hungry and others
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WASHINGTON, May 22, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Every child deserves a happy, healthy summer,
but when the last bell of the school year rings, millions of
children lose access to the school meals they rely on, making
summer the hungriest time of the year. But this year can be
different. No Kid Hungry, a national campaign to end childhood
hunger, is teaming up with Weather and Feature Anchor of NBC's
TODAY Al Roker, Chef, Author,
Restaurateur and TV Personality Lorena
Garcia, Actress, Activist and Author Selenis
Leyva, Actress, TV Host and former Miss Universe
Dayanara Torres and Actor and
Producer Eugenio Derbez to
raise awareness of new summer meals resources that
could benefit 30 million children.
In December of 2022, after years of advocacy by No Kid Hungry
and others, Congress passed bipartisan legislation that expanded
the summer meals program. Traditionally, the summer meals programs
offered for free to all kids at schools and community sites have
been a lifeline for many families but only reach a fraction of the
kids that need it. Pre-pandemic, only 13 out of every 100 kids who
received free or reduced meals in schools were able to access free
summer meals.
This historic legislation provided a comprehensive solution to
the long-standing challenge of summer hunger, including a new
permanent grocery benefit and the expansion of non-congregate meal
options in rural communities. The grocery benefit, known as Summer
EBT or SUN Bucks, will provide eligible families with $120 for each school-age child to help families
stretch their grocery budgets during the summer–regardless of where
they live. Summer EBT is planned to be implemented by nearly 37
states, 5 territories and 3 Tribal Nations. Families can visit
NoKidHungry.org/Benefits to learn more about eligibility and
enrollment.
Additionally, more rural communities can offer the
non-congregate option this summer. This means schools and community
organizations can deliver meals or provide take home meals to kids
whose families often face transportation barriers.
No Kid Hungry is leading the charge to end summer hunger for
kids by providing technical assistance and millions in grant
funding to schools, community organizations and state agencies to
ensure they have the resources they need to implement these new
critical programs. No Kid Hungry is also working to expand Summer
EBT to all 50 states in the future and will activate its bilingual
meal-finder service to help families find free summer meals in
their community. Parents and caregivers can simply text "FOOD" or
"COMIDA" to 304-304, or can access this information via WhatsApp at
comidasdeverano.org to find sites serving free meals in their
neighborhood.
Critical to these programs' success is that families are aware
of how to access all the summer meals resources available to them.
Chef Lorena Garcia, Al Roker and Selenis Leyva will be lending their
voice to reach as many families as possible through actions such as
recording public service announcements, amplifying on social media
and more.
"Summer should be a time of joy and fun for children," said
Al Roker, weather and feature anchor
of NBC's TODAY. "The new grocery benefit combined with more
flexible ways children in hard-to-reach places can access free
healthy meals this summer will go a long way to ensure just that.
I'm proud to join No Kid Hungry and do my part to help end summer
hunger for kids in America."
"While there's a lot to celebrate, we know that the real work
begins now," said Lorena Garcia,
chef, author, restaurateur and TV personality. "I'm thrilled to
bring my passion for food and team up with No Kid Hungry once again
so parents and caregivers, including Spanish-speaking families, are
aware of all the new resources available to help feed our nation's
children when school is out."
"It is a concern for many families that children have the food
they need, especially in the summer when they cannot count on
school meals," said Selenis Leyva, actress, activist and author.
"That's why, as a mom, I'm proud to join No Kid Hungry to help
ensure every family can feed their kids this summer. Together, we
can make summer a happy time for all children."
To find free summer meals for youth 18 and under, families can
text 'FOOD' or 'COMIDA' to 304-304 or visit NoKidHungry.org/Help or
comidasdeverano.org. Families can also visit
NoKidHungry.org/Benefits to learn more about Summer EBT eligibility
and enrollment.
No Kid Hungry is proud to work with corporate partners like
Citi, Albertsons' Nourishing Neighbors, Arby's Foundation, C&S
Wholesale Grocers, Kaiser Permanente, Tropical Smoothie Café and
Walmart Foundation to help ensure kids have access to the healthy
meals they need during the summer months and all year
long.
About No Kid Hungry
No child should go hungry in
America. But millions of kids in the
United States live with hunger. No Kid Hungry is working to
end childhood hunger by helping launch and improve programs that
give all kids the healthy food they need to thrive. This is a
problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share
Our Strength, an organization committed to ending hunger and
poverty. Join us at NoKidHungry.org.
Media Contact:
Allison deBrauwere Ruta, aruta@strength.org
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SOURCE No Kid Hungry