Senator Alfond:Summer Food Program Available for Hungry Maine Kids
Speaking at a press conference at White Memorial Church on July 18, Senator Alfond made the following remarks:
I am happy to announce the unanimous passage of LD 860 – An Act to Reduce Student Hunger.
With so much hunger in our state, it was distressing to learn that Maine ranks 26th in the nation for utilizing available federal dollars for summer nutrition programs. Only 15% of our qualifying children get summer meals. I brought this to my colleagues at the legislature because I knew we could do better.
Currently 43% of Maine children – over 83,000 kids – qualify for the school lunch program.
Yet for the vast majority of these children, there is no summer meal program. When we passed this legislation, one quarter of Maine’s counties had n0 summer meal sites.
There are schools in Maine where 70% of the children qualify for these nutritious lunch programs during the school year yet there are no lunch sites in the summer, leaving children without access to nutritious food.
The research correlating good nutrition with student performance is well known. More recent research shows that many children in poverty and from low income families are falling behind academically over the summer months. If children are also losing out nutritionally, it’s doubly dangerous affecting their academics as well as health.
This legislation is the first step in the right direction and will encourage the creation of more summer meal sites throughout the state.
This legislation can decrease hunger for children in Maine. When the school year ends, many parents have to find ways to feed their school age children an extra 5 – or if the school provides a breakfast program- 10 meals each week. It is these families that often show up on food pantry lines like the one here at White Memorial Church.
The efforts being announced today are a start and a good model for collaborative private/public partnerships that will benefit our entire community and help children who are hungry have access to nutritious meals.
Thank you.
For more information about the program, visit this website:
http://www.preblestreet.org/in-the-news/Program-Provides-Hungry-Maine-Kids-With-Food-in-Summer/256/