A New Year Call to Action: Why Texas Must Act Now to Help End Summer Hunger
When school is in session, millions of Texas children can count on school meals to help meet their daily nutrition needs. But when the final school bell rings for summer, those meals often disappear – making summer the hungriest time of the year for many kids and teens. No Kid Hungry Texas’ latest poll found that 62% of parents report difficulty affording enough nutritious food for their kids when school is out.
That urgent reality was front and center during No Kid Hungry Texas’s virtual briefing event, A New Year Call to Action: Texas Families and Leaders on Summer Hunger, held on January 28. The event brought together partners, state leaders, and community voices to illustrate the critical need for Summer EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) in Texas and to urge action for the implementation of this proven solution in our state.
Moderated by No Kid Hungry Texas Director Stacie Sanchez Hare, the panel featured State Representative Armando Walle, pediatrician Dr. Lauren Gambill, and Ashley Horton, a SNAP recipient and school nutrition staff member. Together, they painted a powerful picture of how summer hunger impacts children, families, and communities and why Summer EBT is an essential part of the solution. You can see a recording of the briefing here.
Across Texas, affording groceries is becoming increasingly difficult. Eighty-five percent of Texans say food costs are rising faster than their earnings, up from 81% just a year ago. As a result, many parents and caregivers are being forced into painful tradeoffs, with 71% of Texans having had to choose between paying for food and covering essentials like rent, utilities, or medical bills.
Summer EBT provides families with $120 per child over the summer on a pre-loaded debit card for groceries, helping parents stretch tight budgets while ensuring kids have access to nutritious meals when school is out. The program is already working in 38 states, showing it’s a workable, effective way to reduce summer hunger. In Texas, Summer EBT could reach an estimated 3.75 million children, far more than traditional summer meal programs, while bringing approximately $693 million in federal dollars into local businesses like grocery stores and farmers’ markets.
Panelists emphasized the urgency of the summer hunger crisis, and we are continuing that call today by encouraging you to contact your elected representatives now so Texas children don’t have to go through another summer without the much-needed nutrition provided by Summer EBT. You can identify your elected officials here.
In Texas, 1 in 5 kids faces food insecurity, and as Representative Walle emphasized, summer hunger affects communities in every corner of the state. While the summer is still months away, state leaders must act now to ensure children don’t face another summer without reliable access to food and the opportunity to thrive year-round.
