It’s 1991, and I am in the ninth grade and what should be a typical lunch period is anxiety producing. Despite my parents’ attempts to apply for a reduced priced lunch, this year we were denied due to a slight increase in household income. There was nothing in the house to pack for my lunch this morning and I am praying that I can borrow the $1.25 from a friend to eat. I am hoping that my quest to find a job comes to fruition so I can buy my own school lunches. Fast forward to the present day when my husband and I talk about this rite of passage, “being able to afford school lunch every day, because we had a job,” in a prideful way. It is time we revisit the root cause of this experience: food insecurity in our households. Unfortunately, just like in 1991, I know that there are young people across the Commonwealth who are, like I was, worried about what they are going to eat today.
Over the past year, child poverty has nearly doubled. Currently, 32 percent of households with children in Eastern Massachusetts are facing food insecurity. While the Commonwealth is already ahead of the curve by offering child nutrition resources, such as universal free school meals, Summer Eats, and Growth and Nutrition Programs, it’s not enough. We need to think beyond the safety net of school: vacations, weekends, evenings, and holidays.
It is also time we think about what food insecurity is costing us, beyond just emotional stress. In a 2019 study conducted by Feeding America, reports suggest that the nation pays $53 billion dollars per year in healthcare-related costs that are directly related to a lack of nutrition. It is time that we break generational cycles of hunger and poverty in families, and that starts with giving individuals and families access to a healthy food system.
Food For Free’s school programs – Weekend Eats Carrot Cards and School Markets – are designed to ensure that children have access to the nutrition they need when off campus. At the heart of this work are the family liaisons who diligently keep their pulse on the needs of school families. They help us to identify and offer solutions to barriers that can prevent families from participating in food programs, like language, transportation, limited time, embarrassment, and fear. They are the true hunger heroes who make our school programs successful.
Our Weekend Eats Carrot Cards Program, which operates in 30 public and charter schools in Somerville and Cambridge, allows families to have autonomy to choose foods that are culturally familiar by providing them with reloadable debit cards. This model works better than a weekend backpack program in that we aren’t supplying food that may go to waste. Because the reloadable cards are used at stores like a regular debit card, students are not visually identified as being food insecure by carrying a bag home. The cards are also easier for schools to distribute to guardians, allowing them more capacity to help students in other ways.
Our School Markets resemble farmers’ markets and offer fresh fruits and vegetables as well as eggs and pantry staples like milk, oil, rice, beans, and canned protein. They provide a convenient way for parents and caregivers to access food for their household while picking children up at school, without requiring an extra stop on their way home. Everything is free and the markets are open to the community. Since last July, we have already completed 54 weekly markets serving 5,330 families, 9,989 adults, 8,607 children, and 706 seniors at 11 locations across Somerville and Cambridge communities.
These programs are just two examples of the ways in which we need to be reaching families in need right now. This National Poverty Awareness Month, I empower you to think about the children in your community. Where do they access healthy meals when they aren’t eating free breakfast and lunch in school? How can you help to make a difference for families stretching their grocery budgets this season, when heating, transportation, housing and grocery prices are high?
For more information about Food For Free and to make a donation to further our school programs, visit: www.foodforfree.org.
