Childhood Hunger
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- August 8
School's on break, not appetite By Alia Malik
Baltimore Sun
August 6, 2007Tomas Belizaire received free lunches last year as a second-grader at Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School. And now that it’s summer, the free meals keep coming.
A week into summer break, he started attending day camp at the Crispus Attucks Police Athletic League Center, where the food and activities are free.
Tomas is one of 985 children who receive free meals every day through a “Healthy Meals, Happy Kids” program sponsored by the Maryland Food Bank and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Baltimore Moms on a Mission Squad. The Food Bank sends meals to 19 sites in the city and one in Baltimore County, up from six last year.
Last year, participation in summer meal programs increased 15 percent in Maryland, making it the state with the fourth-highest growth rate for such programs, accorded to USDA statistics.
Families who depend on free meals for their children during the school year are often stretched for money in the summer, Food Bank officials said.
“When school is out, they end up hungry if there aren’t programs like this,” said Food Bank program manager Lavonzell Nicholson.
“There’s a huge need in Baltimore City right now,” she said.
Last year in Maryland, 206,000 children received free or reduced-price lunches, USDA numbers show. About 50,000 continued to receive free meals during the summer of 2006.
In Baltimore, 85 percent of public school students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, Nicholson said.
Sites receiving USDA money to give away food must check children’s eligibility unless the site is in an area where more than 50 percent of students receive school lunch assistance. All of the Food Bank’s sites, which are scattered throughout lower- and middle-income areas of the city, serve any child who asks for food.
The program also works to combat child obesity, Nicholson said, because healthy food is often more expensive.
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