To a great number of Illinois children, going to school means more than getting an education, it also means getting breakfast and lunch. According to abc7chicago.com, less than 11% of the more than one million children in Illinois who receive free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program during the school year also receive meals during the summer months. Not having breakfast or lunch at school, means not having breakfast or lunch for many low-income families.
Things will be different starting this summer according to Man-Yee Lee, spokesperson for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. She explains that the Greater Chicago Food Depository is Chicago-based and serves the Cook County area only. “We distribute food to partner pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to 800 partner sites/locations across Chicago and Cook,” says Lee.
One program that the Greater Chicago Food Depository has been working on is the Summer EBT Program, the first new permanent federal nutrition program in fifty years. “As co-chair of the Illinois Commission to End Hunger, which is a private function,” Lee explains, “besides working with state agencies, we also work with a lot of community organizations to end hunger in Illinois.”
The Greater Chicago Food Depository has been advocating for this program for many, many years, Lee tells us. Not all states in the country are offering it . The State of Illinois is one of the first states to commit to it, and that means the state of Illinois has to cover half of the administration costs to run the program. The state decided to do it, because they are a part of the Illinois Commission to End Hunger and they understood that there was an urgency and that there was a need for this because kids that don’t have enough nutrition over the summer are more likely to experience long term health consequences and experience what is called a summer slide in academics. That means they fall behind. Lee says, “So we want to make sure they are active and are getting the proper nutrition so that they can just enjoy being a kid and they’re ready and refreshed to start back when school resumes in the fall.”.
“We have SNAP, and WIC to help people who are low-income afford to put food
on the table,” she tells us, “yet, many families rely on their children receiving the free and nutritious food they get throughout the school year and a lot of them lose access to the meals when school is out during the months of June, July and August.”
Congress and others in the industry have recognized that the summer is a very overwhelming time for those families. They know that providing breakfast and lunch for children during those months is a huge added expense that normally families wouldn’t have when schools are open. “In the summertime,” laments Lee, “that’s when we find that a lot of children are going hungry, because parents are not able to give that added expense because it’s a little too much for them, especially when we talk about low-income families.”
Thanks to the advocacy of organizations like the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the federal government is implementing the Summer EBT Program right now in Illinois.
Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis for the Greater Chicago Food Depository
Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis for the Greater Chicago Food Depository
The Summer EBT Program will give eligible families a debit card, which is loaded with $120 per child, which is $40 per child for each summer month.
Parents will be able to use that debit card to purchase groceries for their children during the summer. Man-Yee Lee estimates that they can give that to about a million children in Illinois. But because the program is brand new, many families don’t know about it.
As part of their role as co-chair of the Illinois Commission to End Hunger, the Food Depository is leading a statewide awareness campaign for Summer EBT. They are working with the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Department of Human Services to mobilize community organizations across the state to reach out to families. Families should connect with their schools before the summer break to determine eligibility and to get the benefit.
In terms of eligibility, families who have school age children have to be earning a household income of 185% under the poverty line. For instance, for a family of four, that’s around $57,700 or less per year. There is no citizenship requirement. You don’t have to be a US citizen to be eligible.
Lee says that by giving families the EBT card, it will also help with the local economy and generate economic activity, especially in those areas that need that economic investment.
The EBT cards will be accepted anywhere LINK or SNAP is accepted, such as the local Jewel stores.
“Of course, the $40 per child, per month is not intended to pay for the whole meal,” Lee states, “but if you think about the average lunch or breakfast for a child, that’s maybe five or six dollars, so it could help.”
There are two main pathways to enroll into the program. The best and easiest way is to go through your child’s school. That’s why the Greater Chicago Food Depository is trying to get word out before school lets out for the summer break. If the school already serves free meals to the students, parents just need to talk to the school and submit an application for the Summer EBT Program. The schools will have the forms and parents should just go to the school and tell them you want to enroll.
If a child is already enrolled in one of those programs like SNAP, or is a foster child, or has federal benefits already, they are automatically eligible. They won’t get a new card, because the $120 per child will be uploaded to their LINK card.
If a parent goes to a school that doesn’t know about the program, Lee suggests they keep asking. Maybe the principal knows. She warns that because this is brand new it may take a little time for the teachers to be up to speed on it. But the principal should know, and the schools are required to help parents apply.
“Everyone deserves to eat,” she says, “No child should go hungry. We want to make sure that all Illinois children remain nourished and active throughout the summer, just so they can remain being a kid and they don’t have to worry about being hungry or where their next meal is coming from. So, they can maintain nutrition throughout the summer and then be ready to resume learning when classes begin in the fall, so they can thrive and be successful in school.”
Families can learn all about the program at the website, WeGotYouIllinois.org.
