With this school year coming to an end, children who have been receiving free or reduced priced lunches (and breakfasts) from the National School Lunch Program throughout their school year may find that they are experiencing hunger more often.
For both Lehigh and Northampton Counties, the poverty rate has been on the rise since 2005 with the economic collapse that started in 2007 being a big factor to this increase.
As of the 2016 Map the Food Gap report, more than 17% of children in Lehigh County are food insecure.1 That’s 14,250 children! And, in Northampton Country the total is just over 16% or 10,350 children. In total, more than 24,000 children are potentially losing their opportunity for nutritious meals throughout the summer months.
However, there are many methods which can be used to locate sites that serve free meals to children during the summer:
Call: 211 or 1.866.3HUNGRY or 1.877.8HAMBRE
Text: “FOOD” or “COMIDA” to 877877
Download: RangeAPP.org mobile app
Visit: fns.usda.gov/summerfood rocks
Contact ANW today to schedule an appointment for assistance with family-based healthy eating goals, addressing pediatric obesity, managing cost-effective, healthy meals, and much much more!!
To note, some insurance plans do cover individual nutrition counseling services. To determine if nutrition counseling services are a covered benefit in your plan, please contact the member services number on your insurance card. You can also visit our web site to review our provider status however our status as a provider does not guarantee you coverage for the service. https://anwnutrition.com/individual-wellness/
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy summer!
Sources:
1. http://www.feedingamerica.org/research/map-the-mealgap/2014/PA_AllCounties_CDs_MMG_2014.pdf
