The coronavirus has caused both a catastrophic health crisis and an economic one, pushing thousands of families into poverty and hunger here in Pennsylvania.
Even in this crisis, we’ve been able to make sure children are still fed. Nationwide child nutrition waivers issued by the USDA gave school districts and community groups across our great state the ability to reach kids by allowing them to package meals for families to pick up, or for meals to be dropped off at a child’s home. Kids were fed.
Now these nationwide waivers are set to expire at the end of June, at the height of summer hunger. Without the flexibility these waivers provide, schools and community organizations will not be able to reach hungry kids with the food they need this summer.
I hope our representatives in Congress will help us feed kids this summer by urging the USDA to extend all nationwide child nutrition waivers through Sept. 30. The road to economic recovery begins with families in Pennsylvania having the food they need for kids to thrive.
Eleni Towns
Washington, D.C.
The writer is associate director of No Kid Hungry (nokidhungry.org).