Summertime is Hunger Time for Many Kids
RAYMOND, Wash. (Aug. 20) - By the time Cindy Weiberg pulls up at a park in her Bronco, some children have already scrambled into line. Others open the back door before she's even made it out of the driver's seat.
``Today is turkey and cheese,'' Weiberg announces as she hands out sandwiches, chocolate milk and paper sacks filled with fruit and vegetables.
She lets them take as much as they want. Weiberg knows the lunch she is offering may be the only meal many will get today.
Summertime is hunger time for thousands of youngsters across the country.
During the school year, about 350,000 Washington schoolchildren get free breakfast and lunch paid for with federal funds. Nationally, 15.5 million children participate.
But when school ends, so do the free meals, for most.
Summer food programs, also federally funded, are supposed to fill the gap. But child advocates say the program reaches only about 12 percent of those who need it.
Last year, the Raymond School District's summer meal program supplied 8,400 meals in Pacific County, one of the state's poorest counties. They're on pace to serve more than 10,000 meals this year.
``A lot of the kids, if they didn't come here and eat lunch, they wouldn't eat lunch,'' Weiberg said.
Demand at food banks usually peaks in the summer, and this year's poor economy may cause an even higher spike in need, said Maria Lamarca Anderson, spokeswoman for Northwest Harvest, a nonprofit that distributes food to about 300 soup kitchens and food banks across the state.
Western states have the highest hunger rates in the country. States with the top five hunger rates, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, were Oregon, 5.8 percent; Washington, 4.6 percent; Utah, 4.6 percent; Idaho, 4.5 percent; and Alaska, 4.3 percent.
This year, 78 sponsors and 62 schools are operating meal programs at 600 sites around Washington. Dozens more communities could qualify for federal funding but don't have a meal program because of concerns about cost or burdensome paperwork.
In Washington, hunger pains aren't confined to poor areas like Raymond. Just steps away from million-dollar beach-front condos in West Seattle, a banner advertises ``Free Food For Kids'' at the Alki Community Center.
At noon, children line up for their choice of chicken fingers or bagels with ham and cheese. They return for snacks at 3, usually a juice box and chips or cookies. Often, they arrive early.
``It's just so hard to say, 'No, you have to wait until 3' when you know they're starving,'' said Jill Patterson, the center's youth program coordinator.
The summer meal program cost about $2.5 million last year in Washington. Schools, churches, city and county governments, tribes and private nonprofit agencies such as the YMCA can operate meal programs.
The program sometimes costs more than the federal government's reimbursement rate - so local operators have to make up the difference. Transportation is the biggest hurdle. In rural areas, unless there's money for school buses to collect youngsters, they have no way of getting there.
Sometimes, the communities that most need the program can't afford it.
In Ellensburg, the school district ran a successful summer food program for about five years at Mount Stuart Elementary, across from a low-income housing project. But when budget cuts forced the district to cancel summer school, the free summer meals went away too.
Ellensburg food services supervisor Gwen Sorenson hopes the district will resume summer school and the summer meal program next year. She doesn't know what's happening now to all the children she saw every summer at lunchtime, holding the hands of their grandparents or older brothers.
``People think parents should be taking care of their children,'' Sorenson said. ``But in the world we live in today, that isn't always possible.''
Lorraine Riley knows all about that. She, her boyfriend and his two children must rely on food banks and neighborhood barbecues to keep everyone fed.
``They get filled up here for sure,'' Riley said, as 4-year-old Rayce popped grapes into his mouth. ``I really appreciate these lunches. They really do help.''
Riley makes sure they get three square meals a day, but it's not easy. She used to work at a cannery before she was injured; her boyfriend is a logger who's ``on call'' every morning for available jobs.
In Raymond, school food director Dale Hendrickson is amazed at how the demand for free meals keeps increasing, while the school-age population shrinks.
The timber-and fishing-dependent area has lost many jobs recently, and people are moving away. The ones that stay need more help than ever before, Hendrickson said, which is why the summer food program is one of his passions.
``Kids need to eat in the summer, too,'' he said.
08/20/03 01:49 EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. |
