There is no doubt students throughout the region—the nation, actually—in the coming days will experience the sort of relief that comes with a unloading a heavy burden that’s been carried for months.
School is out of session. Summer break has arrived and for the time being most of their worries will be focussed on how to fill the empty, unstructured days.
But there are children, and parents, who will face a different sort of anxiety that accompanies school break. Hunger.
Many students rely on programs that provide free or subsidized meals while school is in session, but once the classrooms go dark so does the cafeteria, leaving many children underfed and at risk of being malnourished.
Based on 2022 numbers, Feeding America estimates there were 101,420 children experiencing food insecurity— not having enough food for a healthy, active lifestyle—in the county.
The San Diego Hunger Coalition reported that in 2023 about 60,465 kids in South County were experiencing a similar reality.
Those numbers, presumably, were tallied while taking into consideration meals made available through school meal programs.
In addition to being unfortunate and regrettable, those sorts of statistics should be unacceptable.
There are a myriad of reasons as to why a family may experience financial difficulties and reduced household budgets. But there are no good reasons a child should go without a basic necessity such as food.
Fortunately there are organizations such as Feeding America/Feeding San Diego and the San Diego Hunger Coalition that provide nutrition services and raising awareness of food deficits. For example, the San Diego Hunger Coalition and Chula Vista Elementary School District recently announced the launch of the Sun Bucks program, an extension of the Cal Fresh program, that provides money for groceries to feed children while they are out of school.
These programs are laudable and an indication that funding for them are necessary and should be considered as ongoing expenditures in local, state and federal budgets.
