Media Coverage

“Before Covid-19 happened, we were serving about 2 million food pantry visits a quarter, and that was after a very prolonged recovery coming out of the Great Recession where we finally got to a new normal. Now we are serving 3.6 to 3.8 million food pantry visits every quarter. We had before, a year ago, never hit 3 million food pantry visits in a quarter, and now we are approaching 4 million in a quarter.”

Anti-hunger advocates have long considered summer one of the toughest times to reach children.

Many schools serve free summer meals. But parents often struggle to get to them, either because they’re far away or open only during work hours. Families who rely on food banks say they often can’t find staples their kids need, like milk. And often, the food is nearly expired.

Summer EBT allows families to shop for themselves — part of a pandemic-era trend to provide families with more direct aid.

“Only parents and families know what’s best for themselves and their children — what they’re actually going to eat, what they’re capable of eating,” said Hope Lane-Gavin, who directs nutrition policy and programs for the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, which is helping get the word out about Summer EBT. “Most food pantries can’t really tailor a box to a gluten-free kid.”

Pandemic EBT, which launched when schools were closed, helped lay the groundwork. States found that families liked that program, and it helped agencies set up new systems they’re now tweaking for Summer EBT.

Summer can be the hungriest time of the year for students who rely on free or reduced school meals and a new federal program is trying to help those families.

Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (S-EBT) — also known as SUN Bucks — is a new grocery benefit program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will give families $120 per eligible student to buy groceries during the summer.

Ohio is one of more than 30 states that has opted into the SUN Bucks program.

“We have a lot of Ohio children who rely on their school meals for their breakfasts and lunches, and in the summertime sometimes it’s very difficult for households to be able to provide meals,” said Brigette Hires, director of nutrition for the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. “This new Summer EBT has really helped to just have another safety net for households in the summertime to be able to provide nutritious meals for their families.”

The SUN Bucks program is estimated to help 840,000 Ohio students afford groceries during the summer and is the first new permanent federal nutrition program in more than 50 years.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched SUN Programs to provide $120 in grocery benefits per child in Ohio and Kentucky.
• Families now have convenient options for receiving summer nutrition support, including pickup and delivery services in rural areas.
• With an estimated $100,800,000 in assistance for Ohio, the program aims to enhance summer nutrition security for children and teens.

Food insecurity on college and university campuses is an issue, though sometimes a well hidden one.

“I was surprised when I found out how many people on campus were going through tough times,” said Shannon Orr, a political science professor at Bowling Green State University who is also director of the Falcon Food pantry. “I know of someone who left a domestic violence situation and was able to do it because of the help she received from the pantry and university. I have known students who lost a parent or had one in a car accident, and they were not able to count on them for financial support. I know programs like ours make a difference and I am so glad we are able to help.”

Ohio Reps. Sean P. Brennan (D., Parma) and Dave Dobos (R., Columbus) have co-sponsored a bill to create and sustain similar programs on more of Ohio’s campuses.

House Bill 590, the Hunger-Free Campus Act, would establish the Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program with a $2.5 million appropriation to be used to give grants to colleges and universities that have an established food pantry or want to open one.

ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Kayla Darby receives SNAP benefits at the beginning of the month, but with four kids, she needs additional support.

“It doesn’t get us through the full month, so I have to come down here,” Darby said. She’s referring to the Athens County Food Pantry, which she visits once a month, usually the week before her SNAP benefits reset. Pantry President Karin Bright sees over 700 people a month, but those numbers could increase if Congress limits funding to SNAP benefits.

“When (benefits) go up, our numbers tend to go down; when they go down, our numbers go up,” Bright said. The House markup of the 2024 farm bill would freeze a key metric that evaluates the cost of buying healthy food and is used to help calculate SNAP benefits. Freezing the Thrifty Food Plan would cut about $30 billion in SNAP benefits over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Instead of evaluating the cost of a healthy diet, SNAP benefits would only be adjusted for inflation. “If they continue to base the SNAP benefits on what it is now, in a year or two it will be way off and it’s just going to mean less buying power for those food stamps,” Bright said. Sarah Kuhns, Ohio Food Bank advocacy and engagement manager, is worried about what not keeping up with the cost of nutritional food could lead to. “This may impact SNAP’s ability to remain nimble, and would really hamstring its ability to be an effective and critical nutrition program that families rely on monthly,” Kuhns said.