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Proposed changes in federal school nutrition rules, including a provision that would reduce the number of children able to get free meals in the Wilkes County schools, were discussed in a roundtable meeting with Rep. Virginia Foxx Monday at the Samaritan’s Kitchen office in Wilkesboro.

Community leaders and others emphasized the importance of a current federal policy that lets all students in the Wilkes County schools and many other school systems get free breakfast and lunch meals.

Under the Community Eligibility Provision of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, all students in a school system are eligible for free breakfast and lunch if at least 40 percent of students in the system receive some form of public assistance or are homeless, migrant or in foster care.

The Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 (H.R. 5003), which is the proposed reauthorization of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, calls for changing this threshold to 60 percent.

A little over 45 percent of students in the Wilkes schools receive public assistance or are homeless, migrant or in foster care and they would be the only students able to receive free meals if the proposed change becomes law.

Increasing the threshold to 60 percent would adversely impact 29 schools and “deny access to nutritious meals to over 13,000 students” in Foxx’s Fifth District, said Clyde Fitzgerald, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina.

Fitzgerald said all 22 public schools in Wilkes would be affected. “Nationally, these proposals would negatively impact about 7,000 schools and well over 3 million very poor children, about 40 percent of those currently eligible” for free meals.

Samaritan’s Kitchen and other nonprofit pantries in Wilkes and 17 other counties get most of the nonperishable food they give away from the Second Harvest Food Bank, based in Winston-Salem.

“We urge you to oppose provisions that would weaken the Community Eligibility provision, as this provision is absolutely essential to low-income communities. It reduces administrative work and increases access to breakfast and lunch in high-poverty schools,” said Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald applauded bi-partisan support in Congress for proposals that better address child summer hunger but said school and summer feeding programs should be one seamless process and have a reimbursement rate that helps reach more children in need. “Eligible children should have access to essential nutrition support (in the summer), no matter where they live.”

Dr. Vicki Hugger, director of nutrition for the Wilkes schools, said summers provide the biggest challenge to children in food insecure households, especially in rural counties like Wilkes.

Only 8 percent of eligible students in North Carolina and only 4 percent of eligible students in Wilkes are able to access food programs in the summer.

Hugger said she and many principals believe a trailer is needed to drive around Wilkes County in the summer and provide children with food.

She said the House version of the reauthorization proposal allows waivers for the “congregant feeding” requirement that would allow delivery of food to the many children not being served in the summer.

Hugger, a former Wilkes teacher and principal, said she realized that when children returned to school on Mondays and had behavioral problems it was because they hadn’t eaten all weekend.

“They weren’t ready to really learn until Wednesday. If we can’t get to the children, they can’t get to us,” Hugger said.

Hugger she is concerned about the social consequences for kids if only those who actually quality for free school meals are able to get them.

She said children in the Wilkes schools getting free meals would then have to go through a different line than those who purchase lunch a la carte.

Hugger said the resulting stigmatization leads many children to choose to go hungry rather than be in the line for free food.

Lynn Harvey, school nutrition section chief of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, said children should never feel shame in a school cafeteria.

Harvey said 60 percent of kids in North Carolina are eligible for free/reduced meals, up from 43 percent in 2004.

That’s 700,000 children, including 650,000 from food insecure households, where they don’t know where their next meal is coming from, she said.

Harvey said being hungry brings a huge burden to their education.

“We can do our best and have the most highly qualified teachers, but it won’t work if they’re hungry.”

She said the only hunger a child should feel is hunger to learn and be the best he or she can be.
Harvey urged Foxx to advocate for the need for nutritious meals for all students.

“We have one of the highest accountability programs,” Harvey said to Foxx. “You can count on us to do our part, now we’re counting on you to do yours in D.C.”

Health Foundation Executive Director Heather Murphy emphasized the need for proper nutrition standards in schools.

Murphy said, “These are complex problems that we ask our government’s help with.”

She explained a correlation between childhood obesity and national security. “We can’t have kids safe, healthy and able to thrive if they’re hungry.”

Murphy cited a report, called  “Retreat Is Not An Option,” that was compiled by retired senior leaders of the U.S. military.

The report said 72 percent of young adults in North Carolina aren’t eligible to serve in the military, largely due to obesity.

While many young adults lose weight to be accepted in the military, the report said, they gain it back after basic training. This makes many soldiers more susceptible to injuries such as strains and stress fractures.

Murphy said military service is one of the proudest avenues to thriving in communities like Wilkes so it’s egregious that nearly three quarters of young adults have that door shut.

Wilkes resident Sue Watts was a member of the panel and attended with her husband, James, and her 4-year old great-granddaughter, Riley, who lives with them.

Watts and her husband are raising Riley and an 8-year-old granddaughter. She said she’s grateful that her granddaughter can get healthy meals at school.

“I don’t have to worry about my granddaughter having a nutritious breakfast or not,” Watts said.

Riley first came to live with her great-grandparents four months ago. Watts said that said when Riley first came to them she was living on snacks, but now she knows she must eat a meal before she can have a snack.

She said she didn’t know what she would have done without the assistance of Samaritan Kitchen.

“The food stamps program is pretty good, but we have four people and we only get $74,” she said. “I try hard every single day to get these children to eat vegetables and fruit they need. I want these two to be healthy,” said Watts.

At the end of the discussion, Fitzgerald presented Foxx with a bowl made by children in the fifth district.

“I appreciated all the statistics and information you have given me,” Foxx said. “I will pass along your requests to my colleagues.”

http://www.journalpatriot.com/news/foxx-asked-to-support-current-school-food-policy/article_e958691c-6fa4-11e6-bb7d-3bac56815813.html