GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Before the pandemic, Meet Up and Eat Up, the statewide summer food program for students, was feeding 80,000. During, the pandemic, it doubled to 190,000 students.
Gas prices, house and rent rates, food prices, in a word right now, are astronomical. Some Michigan families are making tough choices, pay skyrocketing rent or buy food. And, it's even more challenging for folks without steady incomes.
During the school year, families can count on healthy food for their children in the lunchroom. This summer, piled on top of the current state of our economy pandemic era child tax credits, SNAP benefits, and waivers are ending.
The extra help pulled out from underneath families across the country is what experts call: "A Hunger Cliff."
Inside Benton Harbor lunchrooms students get a chance to relax and feel safe knowing their next meal is guaranteed. Ricardo Carter and his nutrition staff are on a mission to fill up plates with nutritious food. In the summer, that mission, even more crucial.
"Last two years per week, we were giving out as many as 5,000 meals a week, on the low end about 3,500. This year, I would suspect it's probably going to be a lot less than the 3,500. I would guess about 2500 meals that will be given out per week. I mean, it's gonna be tough," said Carter, director of Nutrition Services for Benton Harbor Area Schools.
Carter said during the pandemic, the USDA put in place federal waivers that helped out Benton Harbor and many districts across the country. These provided students with more access to fresh food and options on how to get it, which made his job a whole lot more effective.
One of those waivers, called the congregate waiver, allowed students to pickup food for the week in just one stop.:
"The waivers that allowed the kids like I said, to be able to take the meals home. They were they gave us flexibility for what we could provide the kids as well," said Carter.
That would help this summer when gas prices are through the roof.
"Parents are going to have to drive let's just say 10 miles or whatever to the meal pickup site, have their child eat and then go home. And if they're serving breakfast and lunch, that's twice a day that they're going to have, it's not going to be worth it for them," said Mindy Grant, No Kid Hungry.
Benton Harbor is a community eligible district, meaning 50% of students or more eat for free during the school year. Community eligible districts traditionally were the only districts who served summer meals.
During the pandemic, an area eligibility waiver made it so any district could serve food. "It no longer mattered if you had a 50%, free and reduced or not. And now this summer, it is in effect again, meaning that we're going to lose it, probably around 20% of the feeding sites that we had during the pandemic are going to be gone because they're ineligible," said Grant.
No matter the zipcode, the numbers showed Michigan kids needed food. With this summer's loss of 20% of food sites, No Kid Hungry estimates 100,000 Michigan kids will not have access to consistent food.
Grant continued, "We need USDA to have the authority to grant these waivers. It may be too late this summer. But these are going to be the same issues that are ongoing into next year, because COVID isn't over, we're still seeing these effects."
Around 125 sites will be open for food access all summer spread throughout Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Ottawa, and Osceola counties.
Benton Harbor will serve during summer school and at some apartment complexes and community centers, bridging the gap as best they can.
"It tears you up, because that's what you've gotten to this business for, to help as many kids as humanly possible. And I feel like with the lack of the waivers, and just the lack of foresight from our Congress and our government, we're not going to be able to do that. Some of the parents, they really have to make hard decisions about how they're going to spend the money for gas to be able to get transportation to get to those meals. So, it's a hard struggle for them one way or the other. It's really tough as I feel for them," said Carter.
To make it easy to find one of those 125 sites, No Kid Hungry partnered with Michigan Department of Education on a text line. All you have to do is send "FOOD" or "COMIDA" to 3404-304 with your address and a site will be sent to you.
Anyone under 18 eats free without proof of income, address, immigration status, schools, or even a name.
