By Megan Wehring
HAYS COUNTY – Over 25,000 residents in Hays County are considered to be food insecure, causing the food insecurity rate to sit at 13.2%.
On a statewide level, as many as one in four children live in a food-insecure household – meaning they arrive at school with an empty stomach because they don’t always receive nutritious meals at home. School breakfast and lunch are sometimes the only consistent food children receive on a regular basis.
“School meal programs are really important for kids because essentially, they give them the nutrition they need to ensure that they are ready to learn,” said Mia Medina, Program Manager at No Kid Hungry Texas, “they are less likely to get sick and they are more likely to pay attention because they have easy access to meals at school.”
President Joe Biden recently signed the Keep Kids Fed Act – which allows schools, summer meal sites and child care food programs to continue serving children. This will extend nationwide flexibilities to summer meal programs through September 2022, which includes allowing sites to continue serving meals in all areas at no cost to families.
“Summer is often the hungriest time of year for students,” Medina said.
The act also provides schools with an additional temporary reimbursement of 40 cents per lunch and 15 cents per breakfast, as well as child care centers with an extra 10 cents reimbursement per meal.
While the act does not allow all students to eat school meals free of charge during the 2022-2023 school year, the department is slated to provide other program flexibilities. It will equip schools with the opportunity to offer grab-and-go and/or parent-pickup of meals and extend the deadline for districts to participate in the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows schools serving many high-need students to provide all meals for free without collecting applications.
For the upcoming school year, families in most school districts will need to complete an application to determine if their household is eligible for free or reduced-price school meals.
