School’s Out For Summer: Many Kids Go Hungry

School has or is about to end for many students around the country for summer break. Many excited kids are eager to start a carefree season of no homework – for those who are not summer school bound – and hot hazy lazy days by the pool with friends and family.

But for those who are impoverished and struggling, summer is a period of uncertainty and anxiety, as millions of low income school-aged children rely on the regularity of federally funded free and reduced meals offered when classes are in session.

Based on USDA estimations, nearly 21.4 million children receive free or reduced-price lunches at school on a typical school day. Some of the nation’s neediest kids receive breakfast, snacks, dinner and even backpacks of weekend food through school and after-school nutritional assistance programs. Therefore, many of these children go hungry when not in school.

A persistent deficiency of nutrition, added stress, and not having a safe environment to be during the majority of the day can impact a child’s ability to learn, maintain overall mental and physical wellness, and can encourage behavior problems. Couple that with the vast amount of academic knowledge children lose over the summer and the circumstances create a possible educational crisis in this country.

Programs, sponsored under the National Summer Learning Association, attempt to fill the gap as stats show disadvantaged children are at a higher risk of progressively falling behind academically, an ever growing deficit which can later lead to an increase of high school dropouts.

The National Summer Learning Association provides services to communities, school districts, and programs to support quality summer learning programs accessible to all youths – but target low-income youths who lack options during the summer.

Their families typically can’t afford to consistently keep groceries in the home or send their kids to day or stay-over camps. Instead, these children are left to languish with their strain and boredom, which leaves them vulnerable to put their idle hands into criminal mischief.

Local food banks also do what they can to help out those in need – finding the summer months have the highest demand for provisions as they must supplement the meal-loss for millions of kids from food-insecure homes. A household is considered to be food-insecure if they have difficulty providing enough food for everyone in the family because of a lack of means.

Summer break contributes the limit of resources as well as chronic unemployment and other serious economic setbacks suffered by people struggling to makes ends-meet and pay bills.

In regards to the growing educational gap, do you think schools should consider shorter days, but run year-round? Would you send your child to an academically sponsored summer program to keep them in pace with their peers? How would you address the growing hunger crisis among our nation’s kids?

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