America faces a hunger and nutrition crisis unlike any this country has seen in generations. Today 14 million children are missing meals on a regular basis–a statistic that’s three times worse than the Great Recession and five times worse than before the Covid-19 pandemic–as parents, who often skip meals themselves in order to prioritize feeding their kids, can no longer protect their children from hunger.
It’s even worse for Latino and Black families, who have seen rates of nutrition insecurity spike to 25 percent and 30 percent, respectively. In the wealthiest country in the world, this is simply unconscionable.In many ways, Covid-19 has boiled over long-simmering problems plaguing America’s food system. What began as a public health crisis fueled an economic crisis, leaving 33 percent of families unable to afford the amount or quality of food they want.
School closures put 30 million students at risk of losing the meals they need to learn and thrive.School nutrition professionals like Michael Gasper in Holmen, Wisconsin, had to act quickly to keep providing children with the meals they need. As he told FoodCorps, “Friday, March 13, was the last day [before schools closed]. Our team had conversations late on Friday, then again over the weekend, and we started implementing the plan on Monday. We’ve just kept tweaking and changing as we go.”