Feeding America Warns Cuts To The SNAP Program Will Overwhelm Food Pantries And Hunger Relief Charities

From Feeding America:

If the $16.5 billion in SNAP/Food Stamp cuts in the House Agriculture Committee's Farm Bill become a reality, “the food banks in Feeding America’s network will be even more overwhelmed with people seeking food assistance,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America. The organizations served by Feeding America experienced a 46 percent increase in clients served between 2006 and 2010. “The food pantries, soup kitchens, and other organizations that are served by Feeding America are already stretched to the limit. Proposed cuts would mean that some low-income Americans may literally go without food.” The cuts would mean up to 3 million people would lose their benefits, another 500,000 would see their benefits reduced by an average of $90 a month, and 300,000 children would lose their free school meals. Many households on SNAP/Food Stamps already rely on food banks when their benefits run out at the end of the month, and food banks have seen a nearly 30 percent decline in federal commodity donations between 2010 and 2011. 

Click here to read more.

Food stamps don't alter kids' sugary drink choices

By Andrew M. Seaman Reuters

3:22 p.m. CDT, August 10, 2012

 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite hopes that the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can steer people toward healthier eating choices, there's no evidence the program currently influences - for better or worse - how many sugary drinks kids consume, according to a new study.

When children from families participating in the federal assistance program for poor families, commonly known as food stamps, were compared to peers not in SNAP, there was no significant difference in how much milk, soda and fruit juice the kids drank.

The findings don't mean that banning the use of food stamps to buy sweetened beverages, as some have proposed, wouldn't cut down on their consumption.

 But the results do suggest at least that having food stamps doesn't encourage families with kids to buy more unhealthy drinks, according to the report in the August issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

In short, "SNAP does not affect beverage consumption among low-income children," said Meenakshi Fernandes, the study's author and a senior analyst at the health and policy research organization Abt Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

more...

Back to School Resources: August Child Nutrition e-News Now Online!

The August 2012 edition of our Child Nutrition e-News is now available! 

Free and Reduced-Price School Meal Applications, New School Nutrition Standards, Breakfast in the Classroom tools, Reimbursement Rates, Community Eligibility Option, At-Risk Afterschool Snacks and Suppers, Summer Food Participation, USDA myPlate, and more!

Access CN e-News online.  

USA Today: Schools Scrambling to Serve Up Healthier Lunch Choices

From USA Today: 

When students head back to school this fall, most will be offered a smorgasbord of healthier foods in lunch lines.  The reason: New government nutrition standards for school meals go into effect this year, raising the bar for the first time in more than 15 years. Schools must meet the standards to get federal meal reimbursements.

Many school districts are doing major overhauls. But some have already made significant improvements in nutritional quality of meals over the last few years, and this year they're upping their game.

Read the full article online. 

USDA: The School Day Just Got Healthier

From the USDA:

"Students can expect benefits from healthier and more nutritious food in school.  Thanks to the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act, major improvements are being made across the country to transform school food and to promote better nutrition and reduce obesity. Learn more about the changes, take action within your schools and community, get onboard with this exciting time in school meals!"

Visit the USDA website for a toolkit, other resources, media, and partner links.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity: Ending Childhoold Hunger in America

From the Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity:  

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity will be running a series of commentaries in the summer of 2012 on the fight to end childhood hunger in America.  

This commentary is the seventh installment in the series, which is entitled “Ending Childhood Hunger in America.”

by James Weill, Food Research and Action Center 

In 2010, 16 million children lived in food insecure households and 22 percent of all American children lived in poverty. These facts are unacceptable. The United States should be and can be a place where all children have the adequate and nutritious food they need to build healthy bodies and strong minds, allowing them to reach their full potential. This is a practical as well as a moral imperative—making sure children are well fed is necessary if America is to reach its health, education, economic, and fiscal goals.

Yet it is not enough to feed children and leave parents in crisis. When parents themselves are struggling with hunger, even while they feed their children adequately, there are adverse effects not just for parents but for the development, health, mental health, and learning of children. That’s why ending childhood hunger must also mean ending family food insecurity. 

Read the full commentary online. 

The faces of food stamps

MSNMoney.com highlights the changing faces of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the new name for the Food Stamp Program. The feature includes photos of people from many walks of life who have needed to rely on SNAP during hard times.

Kudos to the Food & Environment Reporting Network which produced the piece in collaboration with SwitchYard Media.