CENTRE COUNTY, Pa (WJAC) — "Keeping children fed." That’s the goal of many agencies in our region that provide meals and food to families in need.
Volunteers at the Centre County YMCA's anti-hunger program say it’s an ongoing challenge.
“Today is the last day we are sending out to schools. We have been sending out food that past two days, and we are at 13 hundred backpacks.”
The backpack program provides meals for kids in need on weekends.
With school soon out in many districts, it’s transition time.
“We’re getting ready for summer lunch programs, because that rolls out Sunday. We’re out Sunday doing bulk distribution. Across the country, multimillion number of children depend on school meals.”
For the Centre County YMCA, this will be the 20th year for the summer meal program. Each child receives five days worth of food, for breakfast and lunch, with families responsible for preparing meals. Many of those families also rely on support from the federal SNAP program.
“A lot of the programs that came out were disbanded when the federal government said COVID is over; we are not funding any of these programs. Then they turned around and cut SNAP benefits. Now, it’s a topic with the new farm bill, as SNAP benefits are going to be cut again.”
The summer meal program this year is expected to serve an estimated 900 thousand children in Pennsylvania.
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