San Antonio Food Bank pushing for summer food benefits
The San Antonio Food Bank is joining its Texas counterparts in asking state lawmakers to approve a budget with federal benefits to ensure low-income students still have access to food over summer break.
Why it matters: 1 in 6 Texas households is food insecure, and an estimated 3.75 million Texas students are eligible for a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that would give them money to buy food during the summer, according to Feeding Texas.
The eligible students would typically get free lunches during the school year.
The big picture: Texas was among 13 states that did not accept the federal money last year, the program's first year.
A Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) spokesperson told the Texas Tribune last year that there wasn't enough time to set up the program.
State officials already missed a Jan. 1 deadline but still have a chance to opt in by March 1 to take part this summer.
Driving the news: Feeding Texas and the San Antonio Food Bank are lobbying state lawmakers to direct the HHSC to accept the federal money.
Feeding Texas has posted a letter online that Texans can send to their state representative or senator.
Zoom in: About 234,000 Bexar County children are eligible to receive the money, equaling more than $43 million in federal funds funneled back to the region.
Threat level: The stress of securing summer meals adds to a "perfect storm" of expenses for families already struggling with childcare costs, heat-induced high utility bills and affordable housing, San Antonio Food Bank CEO Eric Cooper tells Axios.
The program would ease strain on the food bank and help prevent supply rationing during the summer, its busiest season, Cooper says.
How it works: Texas could receive $450 million in federal funding for the summer program, which would give $120 EBT cards to spend at grocery stores for every qualifying student.
It would cost about $110 million to implement the program in Texas, of which the state would have to pay half.
The benefits work like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
What they're saying: Cooper says it's painful to know a federal resource was available last year that could've helped but wasn't tapped into.
"It's just a tragedy when there was a resource that could've been realized," he says. "There's nothing better than feeding a child and I hope that the Texas Legislature agrees."
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