For Many Kids, There's No Free Lunch in Summer

In the 2006-2007 school year, 16.3 million children benefited from free or reduced-price lunches through the National School Lunch Program. But what happens when schools let out for the summer? The hunger does not end for many of these kids, but their access to free lunches does, according to a report issued last month by the Food Research and Action Center.

Summer nutrition programs are falling far short of the need, says the FRAC report. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program served only 2.85 million children, or 17.5 percent of those eligible, in July 2007, the most recent period for which numbers are available.

That number is slightly higher than in summer 2006 by about 2,000 children, though it represents a decline in the program's reach since 2002, when 3.2 million children received summer lunches.

"A lot of sponsors dropped out of the program because they had a hard time operating without losing money," said Crystal FitzSimons, director of school and out-of-school-time programs at FRAC, a nonprofit that receives funding from Kraft Foods and the General Mills Foundation, among other organizations. The culprits, she said, have been rising food and fuel costs that aren't reflected in the payments providers receive for feeding eligible children.

Summer schools, camps, parks and youth enrichment programs are some of the most common summer meal providers. The government reimburses them about $1.73 for each breakfast and $3.04 for each lunch or dinner served, with slightly higher rates in Alaska and Hawaii, according to the USDA Web site.

Another problem is that many potential sponsors don't realize they are eligible to participate, FitzSimons said. Sponsors may receive federal funding if 50 percent of the kids they serve qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

FitzSimons said aggressive outreach is key to the solution -- and something the District has excelled at. The District reached 95.9 percent of eligible children with summer meals last year, or about 29,000 kids. That made the District number one in the country, with New Mexico a distant second, serving 35 percent of its eligible kids.

Maryland and Virginia each served about 20 percent of eligible children, in part because their more-rural areas make transporting food more costly than in the District.

FitzSimons said she does expect things to improve, because Congress passed legislation in December that simplifies the accounting and reporting requirements for sponsors, thus allowing them easier access to maximum reimbursement rates. A pilot program of the simplified process started in 13 states in 2001, achieving 54 percent growth in participation since then.

Now that simplified system has extended to all 50 states. Numbers aren't available for 2008 yet, but "we have heard anecdotally that there is growing demand at summer food sites because so many families are having a hard time this summer," FitzSimons said.

-- Lindsay Minnema