KUOW - Why Billions In Food Aid Hasn t Gotten To Needy Families kuow.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kuow.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Melissa Sadorf
First-grade teacher Shiela Garland had long known that 100% of students in Arizona’s Stanfield Elementary School District, where she has taught for 16 years, ate free meals.
But Garland didn’t fully get what those numbers meant until last spring, when the coronavirus pandemic hit and schools closed across the United States. Suddenly, she and other Stanfield staff members found themselves in masks and gloves, riding up to 150 miles a day on school buses traversing gravel and dirt roads to hand out food and homework packets to children.
Before the pandemic, Garland usually saw her students only in the classroom. Some of the students’ homes she visited lacked electricity, indoor plumbing or windows.
Food insecurity has become a widespread issue amid the Covid crisis, especially after relief such as $1,200 direct checks and the additional $600 per week in unemployment benefits extended by the CARES Act in March ran out. At the end of September, nearly 20% of all adults and 40% of those in a family where at least one adult lost a job reported food insecurity, according to the Urban Institute. Food hardship has increased significantly during Covid-19, especially for households headed by Black and Latinx adults, said Luis Guardia, president of the Food Research & Action Center. SNAP benefits can help provide the nutrition those households need.