Montana fights childhood hunger this summer

Arlee is a small community nestled in the Jocko Valley at the base of the Mission Mountains. Located on the Flathead Indian Reservation, about half of the roughly 725 residents are Native American, according to U.S. Census data. Systemic barriers to employment, education and generational wealth have made poverty commonplace. About 34% of people are living in poverty as compared to 12% statewide.

During the school year, hunger is often one of the most visible indicators that a family is having a hard time making ends’ meet. The district serves free breakfast, lunch and a snack. It offers any student who wants one a backpack of food to take home with them every weekend.

“We know that there are families in need,” said Mike Perry, superintendent of the Arlee School District. “We try to do what we can.”

Arlee High School is one of the dozens of sites across the state participating in the Summer Food Service Program. It’s one of the three major initiatives to curb childhood hunger during the summer months made possible by a partnership between Montana’s health department and education agency.

Schools and community organizations can apply to use federal funding from the United States Department of Agriculture to serve meals in areas where at least half of the children living there qualify for free and reduced lunch based on household income levels.

Childhood hunger in Montana has reached alarming levels, according to Samantha Dennison, the child nutrition manager at the Montana Food Bank Network. The latest Feeding America report found that one in six children in the state are living in a food insecure home, meaning over 11,000 more kids lacked reliable access to food in 2022 than in 2021.

Pandemic-era programs helped stem hunger. More funding and flexibility meant that state agencies and community partners could experiment with ideas like meal pick-ups and more grocery cash assistance.

Unwinding of those programs is believed to be one of the main reasons hunger grew in recent years along with persistent issues of housing costs and inflation, according to Dennison.

Summer is when kids are most vulnerable because they lose ready access to meals provided during the school day. Montana is taking strides to close the gap for families and children, including most recently the Summer EBT program rolling out this year.

“The good news is that the tool box has gotten bigger, and we have additional tools,” Dennison said.

Federal legislation passed in 2022 created a program to help families with children pay for groceries. States must opt into the program annually. Every eligible child receives $40 per summer month or $120 total on a debit card. Participating states set other specifics of program administration.

Montana was one of the first states in the country to notify the federal government that it planned to take advantage of the benefit this summer. The Department of Public Health and Human Services and Office of Public Instruction submitted their letter of intent in November. This comes after the state forewent the chance to provide a similar grocery assistance program called Pandemic EBT last summer, leaving families without the $120 cash assistance for those three out-of-school months.

Every household with children already eligible for SNAP or other public assistance programs and are enrolled in school will automatically be mailed a debit card with the appropriate amount of money loaded onto it. For example, a qualifying household with three children will receive one card with $360. These EBT cards are separate from existing SNAP cards, for example. The money can be used for groceries at supermarkets, food banks or other similar providers.

OPI estimates that over 70,000 children will be eligible for the program.

“It’s a brand new program, so there will be lots of barriers,” Dennison said. “But I’m just really grateful that Montana is willing to go through all these hurdles, and that DPHHS and OPI will work together to roll out this massive program.”

Although Summer EBT is designed to support families, as its namesake suggests, during the summer months when school isn’t in session, there will be a bit of a lag for Montanans this year.

Jon Ebelt, spokesperson for DPHHS, told the Montana State News Bureau that families will receive their Summer EBT funds in the late summer or early fall.

He said the current vendor for other EBT programs such as SNAP — a company called Solutran — gave “unexpected notice” that it plans to exit the government space once its contract with DPHHS ends. As such, the health department had to go through an expedited process to secure another vendor so that the Summer EBT funds could still be rolled out this year. DPHHS has secured a contract with Conduent Inc, which is based in New Jersey but operates nationwide, Ebelt said.

In the meantime, families can turn to other summertime food assistance programs.

There are the congregate meal programs such as the one offered in Arlee, where families can eat a meal on site. The state also approved to-go meals, another effort first piloted during the pandemic, that is particularly useful for rural areas where transportation is a barrier. Parents and kids can access free meals to-go or arrange for delivery options.

“Utilizing your food pantries, summer non-congregate meals, this additional grocery benefit, it will all help,” she said. “There is not one solution.”

As families grapple with paying for food, so too do the agencies and organizations trying to mitigate childhood hunger.

For example, Arlee School District loses money on its food program during the school year and the summer months. Stagnant reimbursement rates haven’t kept up with rising food costs, Perry, the superintendent, says. The district has committed to providing food to any student that needs it, and it employs five full-time food service employees during the school year and three during the summer.

To make it work, Perry takes money out of the General Fund that could be spent elsewhere in order to pay for food service expenses. But it’s worth it, he says, to make sure students can learn when in school and thrive during the time off they have during the summer.

“We feel like the school in Arlee is a main hub for community resources,” Perry said. “We feel like it’s our obligation to help our students.”