John Yang:
Many children who qualify for free or reduced school lunches would lose that benefit when the school year ended. But now a new program aims to bridge that gap by giving needy families $40 a month for each child who's eligible while the school is not in session, money to buy food at grocery stores, farmer's markets, or other approved outlets.
It's called Summer EBT, for Electronic Benefits Transfer, because the money is electronically loaded onto cards like debit cards; 35 states have signed up for the program, aiding an estimated 21 million children. But 15 other states have said no, excluding about eight million children.
Crystal Fitzsimons is director of child nutrition programs for the Food Research and Action Center, an advocacy group that works to reduce poverty-related hunger.
Crystal, how big a problem is it for needy families to lose that benefit when school's not in session?
Crystal Fitzsimons, Food Research and Action Center: Yes, well, so we have millions of families who rely on free and reduced-price school lunch during the school year.
And when the school bell rings, they lose access to those meals. And during the summer, we see an increase in food insecurity. We see kids gaining more weight. And there's just a tremendous amount of stress on families when they need to replace those breakfasts and lunches that they could rely on during the school year.
So it's a huge hardship. And the summer EBT program, like you said, is just an amazing new opportunity to make sure that kids are not going hungry during the summer.
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