Last month, Dallas ISD hosted an event to kick off its annual summer meal program, which gives out free food at sites around the district.
Attendees brought home fresh produce and information on other local resources to help feed their families throughout the summer.
Barbra Johnson was there to pick up free meal tickets. She said with food costing more, it’s expensive to feed her two grandkids, who she’s cared for since their mother passed away.
“With that being in effect … even them working and everything, it's still a tremendous thing that you have to go through,” Johnson said.
Her story isn’t unique: With prices of groceries rising because of inflation, many families are struggling to bring food to the table, especially during the summer, when kids are out of school.
About 1 in 4 kids in the Metroplex are considered food insecure, said Ashley Douglas, a vice president with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, which partnered with DISD on the event.
And that insecurity could get worse – participation in the supplemental nutrition assistance program, or SNAP, in Texas has fallen by more than 500,000 people over the past year, partly because of cuts and restrictions in last year’s federal spending bill.
“The economic impact is seen across the board for working families and working individuals,” Douglas said. “And unfortunately, kids are not obsolete from that trickledown effect."
Food insecurity spikes in the summer, when kids lose access to dependable meals at school, said Julie Butner with Tarrant Area Food Bank. In Dallas ISD, 58% of kids qualify for free or reduced lunch; in Fort Worth ISD, it’s 46%.
“This summer is going to be even more exasperated because of inflation,” Butner said
According to the USDA, groceries cost about 2.5% more than they did last year.
"When [families] experience an increased cost to their household budget, it forces them to turn to the charitable food system more frequently than they would otherwise,” Butner said.
Like school districts, food banks also step up assistance efforts during the summer – but they’re not immune to the rising cost of groceries.
“The food bank is facing the same thing everyone else is facing,” said Jeff Smith, communications director at North Texas Food Bank. “Everything is more expensive for us as well.”
The food bank provides summer assistance through its school pantries and Food 4 Kids program, which provides kids a small backpack of ready-to-eat food each week.
Smith said the organization has had to spend more on groceries after two federal food programs were cut. At the same time, the demand for food assistance has grown.
"Before the pandemic, we were spending about five million a year on food,” Smith said. “And since the pandemic and even to today, we're spending 25 to 30 million a year to purchase food because the need is higher.”
He said the community is continuing to step up with donations to make sure families receive the assistance they need throughout the summer.
“They don't want their neighbors going hungry,” he said.
Avery Escamilla-Wendell is KERA’s news intern. Got a tip? Email Avery at aescamillawendell@kera.org. You can follow her on Instagram @by_avery_escamilla.
