One in seven children in New Jersey suffers from food insecurity, a significant increase from before the pandemic. Many of these 270,000 children count on their schools for two meals, five days a week.
Now with schools closing for the summer, these families can turn to summer food benefit cards, free meal sites and local food banks for healthy meals. But potential cuts to federal programs key to helping with food insecurity, along with increased demand, present growing challenges to these food relief efforts.
“It’s definitely harder for families when their children are not in school,” said Elizabeth McCarthy, president and CEO of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. “It really helps families if their kids can have one or two meals somewhere else so they’re not having as much pressure at home.”
The federal Summer Food Service program serves breakfast and lunch to children age 18 and younger. Open sites operate in low-income communities where at least half of the children qualify for free and reduced-price school meals under federal guidelines. At these sites, meals are served for free to any child regardless of family income. Some camps and summer programs also operate closed sites, serving only children who are enrolled.
What happens in one school district
Clifton Public Schools is one of the districts operating open meal sites this summer. In Clifton, 52% of students receive free lunches and 9% receive reduced-price lunches under expanded state eligibility guidelines for free meals.
During spring break, the district served 1,394 free meals at two sites. The demand showed the need for meals when school isn’t in session, said Alex Rosenberg, operations manager at Pomptonian Food Service, the food provider for Clifton and more than 100 other districts.
Making sure students are fed is a priority, said Ahmed Shehata, assistant business superintendent in Clifton.
“Bare minimum, our children should come to school feeling safe, feeling loved, being fed and being in a clean environment,” he said.
Over the summer, the district will have seven sites where students can receive free meals, most of which are open to every child regardless of family income.
Breakfast options include cereal, bagels, muffins and pop tarts. Lunches may include cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, meatball heroes and pizza, all of which meet federal nutritional standards. The food provider seeks to balance nutrition and offering meals that students will want to eat, Rosenberg said.
Help with groceries
Low-income families also qualify for a $120 Electronic Benefit Transfer card per child to help purchase groceries during the summer. Children in households that receive federal free or reduced-price school meals are automatically eligible. Students who qualify for free meals under the New Jersey Expanded Income Eligibility, which is about 60,000 students, are not automatically eligible for Summer EBT. Information about eligibility is available on the state of New Jersey’s website.
Food banks across the state are also helping families.
The House voted along party lines in favor of a bill that would cut access to SNAP, putting the measure before the Senate where Republicans also hold a slight majority.
McCarthy, of Community FoodBank of New Jersey, said reliance on food pantries declined last summer when Summer EBT first became available. The food bank partners with over 800 agencies across 11 counties to provide food and other services. Their “Find Food” tool helps people find resources near them and is available in multiple languages.
The Community FoodBank has seen a 20% to 25% drop in food from the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Trump administration, a gap it is trying to fill through state assistance and donations, including from retail partners like ShopRite and Amazon. Other New Jersey food banks have also seen a drop in federal food supply, McCarthy said.
Potential federal cuts
Republican lawmakers in Congress are considering making cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, that would likely increase food insecurity for low-income children, according to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The House voted along party lines in favor of a bill that would cut access to SNAP, putting the measure before the Senate where Republicans also hold a slight majority.
“We’re predicting that demand will go up dramatically at our pantries because for every meal the food banks and food pantries provide, SNAP provides about nine,” said McCarthy about the impact of potential cuts. “A cut of even five to ten percent is going to dramatically increase the amount of people who will have to now rely on the pantry system.”
The Community FoodBank has the capacity to serve more people but not to deal with that increase indefinitely, she said.
Requiring states to cover even 5% more of the cost of SNAP would cost New Jersey $100 million in the first year, said Lisa Pitz, director of Hunger Free New Jersey. Other changes included in the Republican legislation, such as expanding work requirements for SNAP recipients, would cause people to lose their benefits, Pitz said.
Changes that limit SNAP and Medicaid participation would have a ripple effect on Summer EBT by making it harder to administer the program, according to the Food Research and Action Center. Many children automatically qualify for Summer EBT based on their participation in SNAP or Medicaid.
Any impact on Summer EBT would likely not happen until next summer, Pitz and McCarthy said.
