When school is out, hunger is in. It is a known fact that food insecurity rises among households with minors during the summer months due to the lack of in-school meals.
For more than 20 years, The South Texas Food Bank has been in the forefront of childhood hunger, providing hot meals and snacks to school age kids through its different programs like Kids Cafe (now CACFP) and the Kids Backpack Program. This year has not been the exception. Currently, the food bank has 13 partner agencies that are serving as summer feeding sites throughout Laredo, Rio Bravo, El Cenizo, Bruni, Mirando, Brackettville and Eagle Pass; and, is providing food-filled backpacks in Zapata, Texas. However, these efforts have not been enough as the demand for food is higher than previous years.
Alma Boubel, CEO of The South Texas Food Bank, believes that inflation is to blame.
“This year, the cost of of groceries has soared to nearly 25% since the beginning of the pandemic, with certain staple food items seeing more significant upticks; and, medicine has increased nearly 40%,“ Boubel noted. “This has certainly impacted our South Texas communities, where an average of 24% of the people struggle with food insecurity.” She also mentioned that the food bank is currently experiencing a significant demand for food - people are having a hard time making it to the end of the month.”
Boubel also mentioned that the four years of inflation and with no sign of any meaningful economic relief anytime soon has not only lead to
an increase in food-insecurity, but has eroded the food bank’s spending power.
This is why the South Texas Food Bank launched the Meals 4 Kids Summer Meals Campaign in June to help supplement their current summer food efforts.
While the main focus of the campaign are children, it also takes into account families and how they are impacted by the lack of in-school meals. The food bank provided some interesting facts about childhood hunger in the summer: single-parent homes are hit the hardest during the summer - they tend to run out of food at the end of the month and rely on relatives to make it through the month. Another interesting fact is that food-insecure children in South Texas report that they have gone to a relative or friend's house to get a supplemental meal for them or their siblings.
The South Texas Food Bank has set a goal of $50,000 goal, which equates to 500,000 meals ($1 = 10 meals). Donations will help boost the summer feeding sites that offer free hot meals to children all summer long; provide nutritious child-friendly food, healthy snacks and fresh veggies and fruits that children can take home or share with their families; and, provide additional assistance to partner agencies that experience a high demand for food this summer.
“We are grateful for everything and anything that the community and hunger partners donate to our mission, however, given the current economic landscape and food-shortage situation, monetary donations are the best way help non-profits right now,” said Boubel.
“Thanks to our partnership with Feeding America, we are able to purchase at lower than retail, therefore, monetary donations have the greatest impact. For example, for every one can of corn that gets donated, we can get at least three from our suppliers for the price of one. Besides food purchasing, the financial support of our donors help keep our coolers and freezers running, and our trucks rolling on the road - taking food to our pantries and neighbors in need throughout our eight-county service area. This is one of the main reasons we encourage monetary donations, when possible.”
For more information about this campaign and how your support will make a difference, please visit: southtexasfoodbank.org/meals4kids.
You can also make a tax-deductible donation at southtexasfoodbank.org/donate or mail your contribution to: South Texas Food Bank - Meals 4 Kids Campaign, P.O. BOX 2007, Laredo, TX 78044 •