Summer is a happy season for most kids, who depending on their age, are busy with work or sports or any number of activities that serve a break from the routine of the school year.
But for many children here in the Golden Triangle and throughout the nation, summer can mean something else: It can mean going hungry.
During the school year, children from poor homes can count on breakfast, lunch and a snack each day during the school week. In Starkville, those children can participate in the “Backpack Buddy” program, which provides food children can take home on the weekend.
When summer rolls around and the school year ends, those meals go away, too.
Fortunately, there is a federally-funded nationwide program to address that issue. Both the Columbus and Starkville school districts participate in the program. It’s one meal a day, rather than the two meals a student has during the school year.
CMSD superintendent Philip Hickman says the district provides about 800 lunches each day, but that likely only scratches the surface. With almost 90 percent of the district’s students eligible for free or reduced meals, one has to wonder if there are others for whom that meal each day could mean so much.
Statewide, roughly 70 percent of Mississippi’s students are eligible for free or reduced meals. Twenty-nine percent of Mississippi children are considered “food insecure,” which is defined as lacking reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
While the national rate of food insecure children has dropped from 23.2 percent to 20.2 percent over the last four years for which there is data, Mississippi’s rate has increased by 1.3 percent over that period.
Clearly, the need for summer feeding programs is great — and getting greater.
It is hard to imagine what would become of our poorest children were it not for the summer feeding program.
Yet anyone with children knows that one good meal a day is hardly sufficient. Growing children can be eating machines, and their bodies need good, nutritious meals throughout the day.
How well we close the gap between what the federal programs provide and what children needs will depend on all of us.
We encourage everyone to reach out to schools, charities, civic groups to see how we can help. Contributing to food banks is another way to reach hungry children, too.
We know enough about the generosity of our community to know that when a need arises, there are those will answer the call.
It’s summer.
Children are hungry.
How will we respond?
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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