Let’s make feeding kids in summer a priority

At face value HB 341 Summer Nutrition Assistance for Children seems to be a no-brainer for our state legislature to pass. After all, food insecurity for children is a real problem throughout the USA. We see it every day in Wyoming. Yet, the bill failed in the Wyoming House.

Statistics show that one in five children (20%) in this state are food insecure. In Big Horn County, there are summer meal sites in Cowley, Burlington, Lovell and Byron. HB-341 would have provided summer meals for children with $40 in federal grocery benefits per child per month.

Some may argue that it is the parents’ responsibility to feed their own kids. It is. At the same time, there are many reasons why help is needed. The cost of food, the cost of living and some parents/guardians may not work, to name a few. This could be a willful choice to live off assistance; it could also be due to physical, mental or health issues. Either way, it is not the child’s fault. Should they go hungry because of the choices their parents make? No.

Other arguments people have made about this program is that the money will be spent on pop, candy, etc. Yet, according to a United States Department of Agriculture study of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), only 20 cents per dollar is spent on these types of items. The remaining 80 cents is spent on basic items such as meat, fruit, veggies, milk, eggs, bread, rice, beans, cereal and other cooking ingredients.

Rep. Lloyd Larsen (R) Lander sponsored the bill. It says in part: “AN ACT relating to public assistance and social services; directing participation in the federal summer electronic benefit transfer program for children; specifying duties of the department of family services and the department of education; authorizing rulemaking; authorizing positions; providing appropriations; and providing for an effective date.”

The bill was also sponsored by Rep. Ken Chestek (D) Laramie. Rep. Larsen said the same bill was introduced last year but it went nowhere, likely because the rules weren’t clearly defined on the federal level. “There were some unanswered questions and logistics that needed to be defined.”

Larsen said he spoke to Director of Department of Family Services Dr. Schmidt. They found that the most efficient and successful way of meeting nutrition needs has been SNAP cards. The program has worked well. It doesn’t mean that it has worked perfectly, but it has worked the best. They felt it would work better than having kids physically come back to school all summer long to get food.

The vote on the house floor was 25-34 against the bill. Larsen said, “Rep. Chestek was the real champion of this bill. We need to ask these questions. Are we getting all the kids that need it? Can the local non-profit organizations take care of it?”

The summer nutrition program is an extension of school lunches. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) was created at the end of WWII in 1946 in response to claims that many American men had been rejected for military service because of diet-related health problems.

I visited with Rep. Dalton Banks about why he chose not to support the bill. He was not alone, as the majority of Representatives in the Bighorn Basin voted like him. Banks supported the bill in committee but voted no when it came before the entire house.

He said, “I voted to pass this bill out of committee because as I do with most bills, I feel the decision needs to be made by the entirety of the elected body, instead of a handful of members. I think it did not pass because if the federal program goes away, the state would then be responsible for the whole program on its own, and I don’t think there was an appetite for that amongst the members.”

The summer meal sites are a great thing for our kids. At the same time, how do all the kids that need food get themselves to the sites? Certainly some fall through the cracks. With no sites in Basin or Greybull, we will have hungry and possibly malnourished kids just like 79 years ago. Sadly, it appears so.

Please consider reaching out to your state senators and representatives to ask them to add this topic to the interim legislation discussions. Then ask them to support feeding our kids when the bill comes before them.