Food insecurity: Children suffer the most
During the pandemic shutdown, Community Action of Wayne/Medina packaged food and other essential items and delivered them to Head Start program families. Including its food pantry service, CAW/M food distribution increased nearly 300% in the first nine months of 2020.
In the first article of this series (March 13 WWN), the Wooster Homelessness Task Force discussed the increasing food-insecurity experienced by many members of the community, whether homeless or not, noting the increasing attendance at the numerous faith-based meal programs offered to Wooster’s hungry residents. Even prepandemic, approximately 40% of the children in Wooster City Schools qualified for free or reduced-cost lunches.
During the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, the Wooster City Schools Board of Education approved participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s extended summer meal program offering free meals for students through Dec. 31 of last year. This effort included free breakfast and lunch last summer through Wooster’s Boys and Girls Club. According to Wooster City Schools food service manager Don Lewis, this program will continue through June.
“The free breakfast and lunch programs at schools are life-savers,” said Sharon Ferguson, a former principal of Cornerstone Elementary. “We also alerted families to the meal programs offered around town through local churches. If the child was hungry, there was an entire family that was hungry.”
What about children too young to be fed within the school system? Community Action of Wayne/Medina offers Head Start and Early Head Start programs to low-income pregnant women and children newborn to age 5.
During the pandemic shutdown, Community Action packaged food and other essential items and delivered them to Head Start program families. Including its food pantry service, Community Action’s food distribution increased nearly 300% in the first nine months of 2020.
The most recent published data from the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, 2018-19, shows 19% of all children in Wayne County live in poverty – nearly one in five. Further, the Children’s Defense Fund 2017 overview said since the end of the Great Recession, families in the bottom 99% group have recovered only about 60% of their economic losses — and then came COVID-19.
Even if the parents still have jobs during this pandemic, many have had their hours cut. Increasing numbers of hungry neighbors mean more Wooster families are living on the edge of homelessness.
A fact sheet published by the Portland Rescue Mission said, “The fastest growing segments of the homeless population are families and women with children.”
These were the conditions prior to the onset of the pandemic. The need is only growing due to COVID-19 job loss and evictions. Policymakers must address systemic issues at the heart of childhood hunger and poverty, but a significant difference can be made in the community. Wooster has many agencies working to address hunger including the United Way, Salvation Army, Community Action, Wooster Hope Center Food Pantry, People to People Ministries and more, and all will accept donations.
This story was written by Wyn Jones for the Wooster Homelessness Task Force and is the second in a monthly series of articles on aspects of homelessness in the city. The task force is a group of local community volunteers working to assist homeless fellow citizens, to develop additional shelter resources and to support local efforts to increase available affordable housing. For information about the task force, call Rev. Kevan Franklin of Trinity United Church of Christ at 330-264-9250.