This story is part of a series on NHPR's Morning Edition in which we explore how people are addressing food insecurity in New Hampshire. Tell us your thoughts on local food access at voices@nhpr.org.
Forty-five percent of children in New Hampshire live in homes that sometimes or often do not have enough to eat, according to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Schools can help to fill in the gaps, but that isn’t always the case.
Two local districts made headlines recently for how they handled students’ lunch money debt. One took families to court over the debt before reversing course, and another is facing pushback for withholding lunch from students in some cases.
New Hampshire Hunger Solutions Executive Director Laura Milliken spoke with NHPR Morning Edition host Rick Ganley about the role of school lunch in children’s food security. Her organization advocates for legislation that would expand access to free and reduced lunch.
Transcript
I want to first discuss this census data – 45% of children living in homes are food insufficient? That seems awfully high. Can we define what insufficient means?
So those data are from the Census Household Pulse Survey, which is a survey that the census started doing during the pandemic. It's an online survey and it's done monthly. And it asks people, 'Did you have enough to eat in the last seven days, and did you have enough of the right kinds of food?' And 'right kinds of food' isn't asking people to choose between lobster and prime rib. We're talking about whether people are able to buy fruits and vegetables or instead are eating instant ramen because that's what their dollars will cover.
What exactly does this tell us about food insecurity among New Hampshire kids?
I think that what it tells us is that food insecurity is relatively high. I think that during the pandemic there were a number of interventions by the federal government that helped families. Some people remember that they were able to send their children to school, and all children could eat at school, regardless of their income levels, and those were significantly helpful to families. And when those waivers ended, some families went back to paying for breakfast and lunch. Only the families at very low income levels were eligible for free and reduced meals at school, and that created a pinch for lots of families at the same time that housing costs, and childcare costs and food costs were increasing.
So what role do schools play in addressing food insecurity among kids and teens?
I think that schools are being put in a difficult position because they can't financially usually cover the full cost of all kids eating, and yet kids need to be fed in order to be able to concentrate, in order to be able to learn. And when they're not fed, there are a whole range of problems that ensue.
I mentioned earlier these cases where school districts have imposed repercussions for some families who weren't able to pay for their kids' meals. What options do districts in New Hampshire have when families are struggling to pay and the meal debt is adding up?
The first thing that we recommend is that they reach out to families and encourage them to apply for free and reduced meals. Often school districts hand out the forms at the very beginning of the year. They're buried with a whole ream of other forms, and so sometimes they get lost. Sometimes there are language barriers to understanding the forms, but also families who may not qualify at the very beginning of the year, whose income changes may not understand that they can apply at any time during the year.
It's really important for me to say that New Hampshire Hunger Solutions is not unsympathetic to schools that are having difficulty making ends meet. The federal nutrition programs typically don't reimburse at a high enough level for schools to make their budgets work, and they're put in a very difficult position that we don't want them to be put in. We want schools to be about ensuring child well-being, to be about helping children learn and not about having to collect debt or to shame children.
