For thousands of children living in Central Florida, their reduced-cost school meal is the only healthy meal they eat during the day. During the summer break, scores of children either go hungry or fill up on cheaper, unhealthy junk food.
In previous years, only 9% of the area’s students would take advantage of summer nutrition assistance programs, but officials say that will change this week when 3,600 free-food sites open for the summer. State officials have increased both the number of summer food assistance sites and public awareness leading into the end of the school year.
“We don’t want those kids to go hungry in the summer,” says spokeswoman Erin Gillespie of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. “We want to make it as accessible as possible so those children can get healthy food and come back ready to learn in the fall.”
Despite optimistic reports of falling childhood obesity this decade, experts warn the problem is still getting worse. In 2014, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study said that childhood obesity rates had finally plateaued nationwide; unfortunately, new data reveals that only holds true for children in wealthy households.
Ashlesha Datar, a researcher with the University of Southern California, says the decline in upper-income childhood obesity rates mostly accounts for the reported decrease. In 2010, one in three kids was overweight, and this year an estimated 74% of children under 10 will not get the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity recommended by government guidelines.
In Central Florida, more than 20 food banks will open in Orlando alone this summer. Parents can find healthy snack ideas and locate nearby free-food sites at the program’s website. The state also launched a billboard campaign and free app called Nutrislice to promote awareness.
“We believe it’s primarily an access issue,” says food bank CEO Dave Krepcho. “There are no school buses for summer food, so kids have to be able to walk to a feeding site.”
