During National Nutrition Month, groups like Virginia Fresh Match are providing people with healthy fresh food options.
Since 2009, the coalition of farmer’s markets and mobile food stores has been helping people on SNAP or EBT get access to healthier foods. Some groups have found almost 24% of the benefits are used for healthy foods, while more often they are spent on sugary snacks, premade foods, and meats.
Elizabeth Borst, director of advocacy for Virginia Fresh Match, said everyone should have the opportunity to access healthy foods.
“Just making sure that people both have access to high-quality food and that quality food is affordable to them,” Borst explained. “Fresh fruits and vegetables can often be the last thing that people will choose when they are on a really limited budget, so we want to make sure that is accessible to people.”
The Consumer Price Index showed food prices drastically increased between 2022 and 2023, but prices have slightly declined in 2024.
Food insecurity has been a long-standing issue for Virginians. Hunger Free America’s 2023 Annual Hunger Survey found almost 774,000 people in Virginia are food insecure. Borst emphasized her group is focusing on its “food is medicine” work to ensure no one goes hungry.
While Virginia Fresh Match has been able to accomplish a lot during its multiyear history, there have been several challenges. Borst observed one long-term challenge has been funding sustainability. Like the rest of the world, the pandemic presented a significant hurdle for them, although it created some interesting changes.
“We just had a huge bump in our redemptions and usage of the program,” stressed Borst. “That really didn’t taper off even though there’s been a 40% decrease in SNAP benefit allotments once the pandemic emergency benefits ended.”
Emergency allocations provided all SNAP recipients with an additional $95 per month, affecting 470,000 families across the state.
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To reach more hungry families, one Texas nonprofit is setting up mini food markets in schools.
The Tarrant Area Food Bank in North Texas provides 60 million meals a year to families in 13 counties.
It’s taking the food directly to school campuses in some lower-income neighborhoods, with what it calls “Ready-to-Learn-in-School Markets.”
Food Bank President and CEO Julie Butner said the markets have changed the way they’re helping the community.
“And the markets are very much like a retail experience,” says Butner, “where the kiddos or the parents can go in and do shopping and get the foods that they want, that they know their families will enjoy.”
The area served by the food bank has food insecurity rates that range from just over 10% in Denton County, to more than 17% in Hamilton County.
Butner said more food banks across the country are partnering with school districts to operate on school campuses. She said they hope to have 100 in-school markets by the end of the year.
The markets are established in areas that are deemed food deserts, meaning there isn’t a grocery store within a one mile radius of the school – and at least half of the students qualify for free breakfast or lunch.
In addition to addressing the need for food, Butner said the markets also teach valuable skills to students.
“They’re helping stock the shelves, helping family members select products, checking family members in that are receiving products,” said Butner, “because you do need to qualify in order to enter the market.”
According to the latest US Department of Agriculture data, the number of households experiencing food insecurity rose from almost 34 million in 2021 to more than 44 million in 2022.
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Schools play a critical role in nurturing Hoosier children’s health and well-being which lay the foundation for lifelong eating habits.
Throughout Indiana, cafeteria workers are celebrating National Nutrition Month. They know the food children eat has a direct effect on their growing brains and bodies.
Betsy Ulrich is assistant food director at Pioneer Elementary School – a rural school district located in north Central Indiana.
Ulrich said she uses interactive activities such as reading the book “Dolphins Don’t Eat Donuts,” to teach them about nutritious choices.
“It’s a great opportunity in a social environment for them to maybe try different things,” said Ulrich. “One of the things I enjoy doing is going around the lunchroom and, ‘Hey! Have you tried your broccoli? I’ve got a sticker here that you can say I tried it, and I liked it.’ Kids will do about anything for a sticker.”
Ulrich emphasized the importance of a healthy breakfast and offering affordable options for students arriving early. For some, it may be one of their few opportunities for healthy meals.
Feeding America says one in eight children in Indiana face hunger. Despite the challenges posed by strict nutritional guidelines, schools help ensure students receive well-balanced meals daily.
Ulrich said he is encouraged when students ask for grab-and-go lunch options which include whole wheat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with baby carrots and fresh fruit.
“When they come in if they say I’m a grab and go, if I’m on the serving line, I’ll pitch it to them,” said Ulrich. “They know that – ‘Up high.’ If someone else is there – they miss that. They want to have that thrown to them. And I know it sounds simple but it’s just finding a way to connect with these kids.”
Ulrich encouraged parental involvement in lunch preparation, advocating for nutritious choices and setting boundaries to promote healthier eating habits overall.
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One year after emergency SNAP benefits ended, Ohio food banks say they are struggling with increased grocery costs and record-high numbers of families turning to food pantries for help.
Since the start of the pandemic, households have received on average $90 more per person, per month in SNAP benefits.
Joree Novotny, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, explained Ohioans lost $126 million between this March and last, when the expanded benefits expired. She described food banks now being overwhelmed trying to meet the needs of families facing pressure from inflation, resumed student loan payments and higher costs for utilities and rent.
“They have been turning to us, for month over month, for more than a year, at a level that we’ve never experienced before,” Novotny reported. “That is very difficult for us to continue to sustain.”
From April through September of last year, pantries served around 1.3 million people a month, up 60% from before the pandemic.
According to an Ohio Association of Foodbanks survey, more than three in four SNAP households said since the end of expanded SNAP, their household’s food benefits were completely used up within the first two weeks of the month.
The Farm Bill, a package of legislation to reauthorize most of the nation’s agriculture and nutrition programs, including SNAP, expired last fall. Congress has yet to pass a new version. Novotny advocates are pushing for a SNAP program in the next Farm Bill, flexible and robust enough to help keep families afloat, along with the farmers who depend on the bill’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, and a strong Emergency Food Assistance Program.
“We can’t absorb any more losses in SNAP benefits,” Novotny contended. “We need, first and foremost, a really strong SNAP program protected in this Farm Bill.”
According to a recent survey, 90% of respondents said their basic monthly food purchases cost more now than a year ago. The number of people who said they skipped meals, ate less, or relied on family and friends for food in the last month rose between 2% and 4%.
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