In Texas, more than four million people don’t know where their next meal will be coming from, and it’s especially hard for school children during the summer months. The Texas Tribune posted an article this week, honing in on how small rural Texas communities struggle to find food during the summer.
But, it’s not just the counties surrounding Lubbock that struggle, but Lubbock as well. LISD Director of Child Nutrition Lorie Johnson said throughout the school year, majority of their students have to have at least one free meal a day.
“We have enrollment of around 28,000 students and around 19 to 20,000 of them have some sort of need or meal program,” Johnson said.
Separate from the South Plains Food Bank feeding program, LISD has one of their own where students can come to elementary schools with their families. This summer they fed more than last, by mapping out the neediest areas.
“It’s something I feel really passionate about, we were able to feed 10,000 more than last summer,” Johnson said.
The South Plains Food Bank said there’s 96,000 food insecure people in their service area, right now they feed 57,000 a year with a hunger gap of 39,000. But this summer Development Director, Meagan Bratton said they were able to expand their summer feeding sites to new rural areas with the help of new community partners.
“West Texas is kind of its own ball game, we have open fields,” Bratton said. “We were able to open up some places outside of town within our rural communities which was wonderful being able to partner with them those are a lot of cites that need our help.”