Letters to the Editor - July 11, 2019

Lowcountry Food Bank urges support to close summer child hunger gap in South Carolina

During the summer, more than 307,000 children in South Carolina who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals during the school year do not access a summer meals program during this critical time away from school.

Congress can help feed more children by passing the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Acts which will improve access to summer meals sites, provide a summer grocery card, and allow alternate delivery models in areas where children are not able to access these two programs.

Every child deserves to have access to enough food, yet so many miss meals in the summer when school is closed. Congress can help strengthen our work by streamlining how summer and afterschool programs work together, allowing the Lowcountry Food Bank to increase the number of meals we provide.

Sometimes children cannot access a summer meal site simply because of where they live. We support expanding nutrition programs to allow a summer grocery card and alternate delivery models to give children in need equitable access to nutritious meals, no matter where they live.

We urge our South Carolina state senators to support the following three bills that will help us ensure every child has access to the nutritious meals they need to grow, learn and thrive:

• Hunger Free Summer for Kids Act of 2019

• Summer Meals Act of 2019

• Stop Child Summer Hunger Act of 2019

We encourage you to contact your South Carolina state senators and show your support to fight childhood hunger in our community.

Pat Walker

Lowcountry Food Bank President and CEO