When I was 9 years old and living in Dexter, Tom was my classmate. We were friends and he liked to play sports. Back then, and through my 9-year old eyes, I remember he was “that kid†who got called down to the principal’s office. He was “that kid†who stayed in during recess. He was also “that kid†who missed a lot of school. What I realized later, with my adult eyes, is that Tom was “that kid†whose family–although they worked hard–didn’t have enough money to make sure Tom got enough food. He was hungry. I am sure that we all knew or know a Tom? Maybe there are a few of us in this room that was Tom?
As a past member of the education committee, I now know that hunger is one of the most severe roadblocks to learning. A child who doesn’t have enough to eat, won’t do as well in school. They’re more likely to get sick more often—and, less likely to finish high school. Tom was that kidâ€. That was more than 25 years ago.
Today, there are 84,000 students who qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Today, twenty percent of Maine kids are food insecure–that’s nearly one in five.
Today, the state of Maine ranks third–only two other states in America have more children in hunger.
That’s a list that we shouldn’t be on. In fact, that’s a ranking we should be ashamed of.
Sometimes, the best solutions are the simplest. This bill is one small step–one common sense step toward making sure a hungry kid in Maine has the opportunity to get one meal a day during the summer-vacation months.
Feeding hungry students is nothing new. We already have a program in place for making sure hungry students get fed during the school year. It’s a federal program, that Maine schools take part in. It’s called the National School Lunch Program.
And feeding students during the summer is nothing new. In fact, the first summer food program began in 1968.
Government–and our society–has long seen the need, and accepted the responsibility, to help provide nutrition to our neediest children.
Today, if you all join me in supporting this bill (again), we can make a difference to 84,000 Maine kids who currently qualify for free or reduced lunch. Today, all we are asking–and expecting–is for the adults to have a conversation about the hungry children at their school, in their community. Today, we are asking schools who already offer summer programming like a rec program, to consider whether a summer food program is right for them.
The food costs are paid for. The federal Summer Food Program picks up the food costs.
The bill even allows schools to partner with churches or nonprofits or other community and civic organizations. In my home town of Portland, there’s a summer food program in the park—at Deering Oaks. The goal is to go to where the kids are and make it as easy as possible.
But even still, if a school doesn’t want to participate, they can opt out. Ultimately, it’s a local decision.
Some may ask, “why is this necessary if schools already can ‘opt-in’ to a summer food program?â€. The answer is simple: because there are still 70,000 kids across our state, in each of our districts, who are not getting fed in the summer. They are hungry.
The question I ask each of you is, “why wouldn’t we do this now?â€
Again I will ask you: Why wouldn’t we do this now when food insecurity for Mainers is increasing.
This bill is more than just a bill, it’s a pledge, it’s a commitment by all of us that we need to change course; we need to build momentum to help our most precious assets, the children of our state.
Today, you have a second chance to help feed our state’s hungry children so that we can make sure all of our kids, even the hungry, have the basic building blocks to go toe to toe with their classmates or in fact with anyone, anywhere.
I hope you will join me.