MONROE — Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program and Green Cares Food Pantry have released their 2019 annual report on weekend food programs for students. The report indicated an increase in food insecurity in Green, Iowa and Lafayette County school districts.
United Way predicts food insecurity through ALICE, a threshold for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed households, or households that make above the federal poverty level but below the basic cost of living for that county.
According to Wisconsin’s 2016 United Way ALICE Report, only 66% of households in Green and Iowa counties earn more than the basic cost of living for the county. In Lafayette County, that number falls to 63%, significantly below the 2010 percentages of 73% in Green County and 69% in Lafayette and Green counties.
High percentages of households below United Way’s ALICE is an indicator of food insecurity, SWCAP Board of Directors Chairperson Jeannie Blumer said.
The programs, which started in 2017 when it was recognized that many students and districts were struggling with food insecurity on weekends, send home backpacks of non-perishables with students to use during the weekend.
The food for the programs comes from Second Harvest Food Bank and is paid for through donations; the programs receive no government funding. Donations can be directed to the program as a whole, or to a specific district.
Seven area school districts (Albany, Black Hawk, Brodhead, Juda, Monticello, New Glarus and Pecatonica) partner with the programs and each is entirely volunteer-driven and also receive no government funding.
Of the seven districts with weekend food programs, an average of 43.75% of students are enrolled in the programs at each school. At Juda Elementary, that number reaches 81.91%. At nearly all of the schools with the program, student participation has been increasing, indicating a higher need to eliminate food insecurity.
While volunteers are the driving force behind the programs, Summer Stietz, who runs the program at Black Hawk School District, said community participation and support of it are vital to feeding students.
“Everybody is involved and everybody cares,” Stietz said.
The program helps not only to feed students and their families, but to relieve the stress of those who may otherwise not know where food for the weekend will come from.
“If a child is worried about basic essentials, they can’t learn,” she said.
SWCAP’s weekend food programs dedicate 100% of donations directly toward food, as there are no additional costs for administrative salaries because the programs are volunteer-run.
“Our goal here is to eliminate food insecurity with these kids,” Blumer said. “We live in a rich country, there is no reason any student is ever hungry.”