We must do more to feed children during this crisis
Houston is now entering its seventh week of regionwide school closures in an attempt to stem the spread of COVID-19. As we struggle to adjust to the new reality of prolonged social distancing and school closures, we must acknowledge another public health crisis: Many Houston children have lost guaranteed access to half the meals they eat in a week. They need our help, and they need our voices.
Children in Harris County experience food insecurity at rates higher than the state and national averages. Almost one in four Harris County children live in families experiencing food insecurity, defined by U.S. Department of Agriculture as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. For many children across the city, schools provide almost half of their caloric intake. These children rely on federally funded school meal programs like the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program for regular access to nutritious foods. Over 60 percent of students in the county’s public schools qualify for these school meal programs.
When the Houston Independent School District announced districtwide closures in March, the district quickly ramped up to open meal distribution at 61 sites. However, the district canceled the program on March 25, announcing that an individual at one site went under self-quarantine due to potential exposure to the novel coronavirus. In its eight days of service, the district distributed approximately 1 million pounds of food to nearly 40,000 families.
HISD reopened its food distribution program on April 6. The district has partnered with the Houston Food Bank to focus on supplying food rather than prepared meals and is providing food for tens of thousands of families per week. For the past two Saturdays, HISD partnered with the Houston Food Bank for mass distribution of food at NRG; this past Saturday approximately 500,000 pounds of food was dispersed to over 5,000 families in need.
This week there are another 25 school food distribution sites. Despite these heroic efforts, many Houston children still struggle for reliable access to nutritious food. Prior to school closures, the district provided an average of over 125,000 lunch meals and 104,000 breakfast meals each day. Distributing that amount of food in the absence of school cafeterias remains a logistical nightmare.
While the state has taken an important step to address food insecurity by providing the maximum amount of SNAP benefits to recipients based on family size for the months of April and May, we must do more for Texas’ children.
Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, states have the option to submit a plan to the Secretary of Agriculture for providing assistance to households with children who have lost access to free or reduced-price school meals due to pandemic-related school closures. The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer program provides families an EBT card with the value of the school breakfast and lunch reimbursement rates for the days that the schools are closed. The USDA has approved the use of the Pandemic EBT program in several states, including Michigan, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Illinois and Arizona. Texas has applied for the Pandemic EBT program and is currently awaiting approval from the USDA.
It is critically important that the USDA approve Texas for participation in the Pandemic EBT program as soon as possible. It is also essential for our state to ensure that our low-income families have the information and resources they need to apply for and receive this evidencebased approach to ameliorating food insecurity during times of crisis. Finally, our state must continue to strategize on how we can best address child hunger as we move into the summer, a season that usually grapples with higher rates of food insecurity — which will be compounded this year by skyrocketing rates of unemployment and poverty.
As we continue to struggle with the social and economic consequences of the pandemic, we must ensure that our region’s most vulnerable children continue to receive regular meals. We encourage all readers to contact their federal representatives and let them know that hungry kids and hungry families need help now. Ask them to prioritize relief for the food insecure. Child hunger cannot be the collateral damage of this public health crisis.
Dr. Hetrick is a pediatric resident and Dr. Bocchini is a pediatrician, both of whom work at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. Texas Children’s works closely with the neighboring Children’s Nutrition Research Center of the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dr. Sanborn is the CEO of Children at Risk.