As families struggle with inflation and high gas prices, Ohio schools said they are seeing a staggering rise in the number of students whose parents cannot afford to pay for lunch, but who do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

Lindy Douglas, coordinator of whole child and wellness programs for Alexander Local Schools in Athens County, said school lunch debt has more than doubled this year from pre-pandemic levels.

She pointed out cafeteria workers are being forced to deny children food because they owed charges.

"That was a little heartbreaking for my staff to deny children and take the tray away," Douglas noted.

According to the group Hunger Free Schools Ohio, it would cost the state less than $2 per child per day to provide free school meals to all students in Ohio.

Advocates said eliminating school meal debt and significantly reducing the administrative work required to operate School Nutrition Programs could help solve the problem.

One in six Ohio children, and as many as one in four children in certain counties, lives in a household facing hunger. Douglas emphasized even kids who received free school breakfasts do not always get fed, and start the day on an empty stomach.

"What I also found is that children who come to school late, they end up in panic mode, worried to death they're not going to get their breakfast because they missed it and the doors closed," Douglas observed.

Katherine Ungar, policy associate for the Children's Defense Fund of Ohio, said school meals are just as important to student's academic success as textbooks.

"They are linked to better educational outcomes, including increased test scores, improved academic attendance and increased graduation rates," Ungar outlined.

A 2022 survey conducted by Baldwin Wallace University in collaboration with Children's Defense Fund-Ohio found 87% of respondents agreed school meals should be provided at no cost to all Ohio students.

Rural development leaders say getting healthy, locally grown food to underserved areas is a challenge in states like North Dakota.

They hope a new federal initiative that creates regional food business centers will help smaller communities and producers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced the launch of a dozen hubs that will provide technical assistance and capacity building to help farmers, ranchers and other food businesses access new markets.

Lori Capouch is the rural development director for the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives.

She said food access woes had been growing in smaller communities before supply-chain problems became very evident over the past few years.

"Having trouble getting food to grocery stores and schools and restaurants in the very smaller cities," said Capouch. "But the pandemic accelerated that and suddenly we had schools that couldn't get ground beef although we have a ton of producers in our state."

There are other regional partners assisting with the food center, including the North Dakota Farmers Union.

It says a primary focus will involve developing critical infrastructure for small and mid-sized livestock and fruit and vegetable processing, along with storage options.

South Dakota and Minnesota will be part of the regional hub serving north-central states.

Capouch said involving smaller farmers and ranchers within the region should be a "big win" economically speaking.

"Those dollars then stay in our state," said Capouch. "and they benefit the people that live here."

Capouch said the regional food business center will largely operate in virtual fashion, and that over the next several months, they will bring organizations together to hear from producers and stakeholders about what their goals and needs are.




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Whether it's the recent debt ceiling negotiations or the Farm Bill debate, a key federal food assistance program is again at the mercy of budget haggling. Minnesota hunger-fighting groups say some of the rhetoric is short-sighted.

House Republicans have pushed for expanding work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - formerly known as food stamps - arguing it would incentivize more recipients to work.

But Colleen Moriarty, executive director of the group Hunger Solutions, said she feels that would actually do the opposite. She said food insecurity would instantly become a huge barrier in job search efforts.

"It's like if you want someone to work and you cut off their access to public transportation to get to a job, then they can't get there," said Moriarty. "If they don't have any food, they're hungry, they can't concentrate on what it is they're doing."

A tentative debt-ceiling deal was reached over the weekend, and it does include some expanded work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents, but there are also now exemptions for Veterans and those experiencing homelessness.

In combating longstanding misconceptions, Moriarty said it's important to remember these benefits are not a "cure-all" for low-income individuals, but a temporary source to help close hunger gaps when people are in their greatest moment of need.

Research has shown most SNAP recipients are part of the labor force, but often deal with interruptions, such as health issues, in maintaining stable employment.

Moriarty said limiting any aspect of SNAP benefits comes at the worst time for those struggling to get by.

Her group recently noted food shelves in Minnesota saw nearly two million more visits last year. And most pandemic aid has ended, which especially impacts older residents.

"Just recently, when we lifted the emergency status and SNAP went back to the previous levels, what we've seen is just a dramatic effect on seniors," said Moriarty. "Their benefits have rolled back now to $23 a month. You know, they're scared."

This past session, the Minnesota Legislature approved $5 million in emergency food shelf aid. But Moriarty warned that if some locations still can't meet demand and SNAP benefits are limited, those in need might not have anywhere to turn to.

Meanwhile, Congress is expected to vote this week on the updated SNAP provisions.

Three weeks into state Senate Republicans' walkout from the Oregon Legislature, concern is growing the move could sink action on important issues such as addressing hunger in the state.

Susannah Morgan, CEO of Oregon Food Bank, said rates of hunger are still above pre-pandemic levels, and it is anticipated the food assistance system in the state will serve more than a million people this year.

"This is a crisis that so many of us need help feeding our families," Morgan pointed out. "In order to meet that crisis we need our government to work."

Republicans walked out on May 3 in part because of a bill which would expand abortion rights and further protect transgender health care. Senate Republicans have pledged to come back on the final day of the session, scheduled for June 25, to pass bipartisan bills. Morgan argued one day does not give the Legislature enough time to pass a number of important bills.

She said one important measure is Senate Bill 610, which would ensure people who are undocumented can receive food assistance. It is estimated more than 62,000 Oregonians are excluded from federal food aid.

"This would really, really, really help us address this deep hunger crisis," Morgan explained. "And that is stuck because nothing is moving in the Oregon Legislature right now."

Morgan added she is asking Republican senators to go back to Salem.

"This is not intended as a partisan statement," Morgan cautioned. "This is intended as a statement about what our communities need to ensure that their food needs are met right now."