The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Urges Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris to support efforts to close the summer child hunger gap which impacts over 2 Million children in California.
We realize summer is coming to end and most kids are back in school, but there is important legislation we want everyone to be aware of. Congress has a chance to help feed hungry children next summer and beyond with the upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization process by improving access to summer meals sites, providing summer grocery cards, and allowing alternate delivery models in areas where kids are not able to access the other programs.
More than 22 million children nationally receive free or reduced-price lunch during the school year, yet a mere 17% of them access free meals in summer through the Summer Food Service Program. What this translates to is 2,139,517 children in California who are at an especially high risk of going hungry during summertime.
We are on the front lines of the fight against child hunger in Contra Costa and Solano counties in California and we see how hunger affects a child’s growth, ability to learn and their health. Every child deserves to have access to enough food whether school is in session or not.
The school districts in Contra Costa and Solano counties work hard to provide food to children in our community, but they are burdened by administrative rules that make it hard to operate summer meal sites. The reality is some children cannot access a summer meal because of geographic and transportation obstacles, which is why we support expanding nutrition programs to allow for summer grocery cards and alternate delivery models to give children in need equitable access to meals no matter where they live.
Congress can help by streamlining how summer and after school programs work together, which will result in the ability to feed more children in need. We urge our senators to support the following three bills that would 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 (S.1918): Introduced by John Boozman (R-AR), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and John Hoeven (R-ND)
- Summer Meals Act of 2019 (S.1908): Introduced by Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Stop Child Summer Hunger Act of 2019 (S.1941): Introduced by Patty Murray (D-WA)
Make YOUR voice heard by calling your senators at (202) 224-3121 and encourage them to support these three bills.
We thank you for your consideration and support,
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
