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HomeNewsLow-income families, advocates implore Tenn. governor to renew Summer EBT before deadline

Low-income families, advocates implore Tenn. governor to renew Summer EBT before deadline

by News7

A federal program that helped nourish hundreds of thousands of Tennessee children over the summer is at risk of expiring in the state unless the governor renews it by Jan. 1 — which he has indicated he does not plan to do.

The Summer EBT program provides $120 per child on electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, cards that low-income families can use to buy groceries when the school year ends. Initially a temporary relief measure during the pandemic, the program is now a permanent summer option, and it has helped many households afford nutritious food: The U.S. Agriculture Department, which oversees Summer EBT, estimates that nearly 21 million children across the country benefited from it this summer.

States must opt into the federally funded program for children to receive the summer grocery credits, and some states have declined to participate, citing administrative costs that partially come from state budgets, plus existing food programs that leaders say supply adequate nutrition when school is out.

This summer, 37 states, including Tennessee, participated in the Summer EBT program, also known as SUN Bucks, according to the Agriculture Department.

For next summer, Tennessee is one of about a dozen states set to potentially turn down a combined $1.14 billion in federal funding to feed 9.5 million children, according to the Food Research & Action Center, an anti-hunger advocacy organization, which is urging Republican Gov. Bill Lee and others to reconsider.

“We know that summer can be the hungriest time for children, and when the school year ends, millions of children lose access to school meals nationwide,” said Kelsey Boone, a senior child nutrition policy analyst at the Food Research & Action Center.

She said other options aimed at reducing children’s food insecurity are helpful, like the Summer Food Service Program, which distributes free kids’ meals and snacks at locations such as parks and schools. But work schedules, lack of transportation and other factors often prevent families from being able to get to summer meal sites.

“Those summer meals only reach a fraction of the children who need them, and that’s why Summer EBT is so important,” Boone said.

While advocates want all states to enroll in Summer EBT, they say Tennessee presents a particularly compelling need. With Tennessee’s numerous rural, mountainous regions, families are often far from food banks or other meal distribution sites. Making matters worse: Some communities in the eastern part of the state that already faced high rates of hunger and poverty were devastated when Hurricane Helene hit in late September, compounding residents’ struggles (neighboring North Carolina, which was also ravaged by Helene, has expressed its commitment to Summer EBT for 2025).

Those in favor of Summer EBT say it has a proven record in Tennessee: State data shows that more than 656,000 children participated in it this year, enabling their households to buy fresh fruit, vegetables and other groceries. 

Bobbi Jo Miller’s three school-age children were among those who received the summer benefits. Miller, who lives in Unicoi County, is a single mom who cannot work because she is disabled. She does not drive, making it challenging for her to travel to summer meal sites with her kids. With the Summer EBT funds, she said, she was able to join neighbors and friends on their trips to supermarkets to buy staples such as eggs, milk, bread and cereal.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee at the Republican National Convention in July. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images fileShe cried when she heard Lee does not plan to renew the program in 2025.

“I have a very fixed income,” she said. “To know that the governor doesn’t want to help in the one little way he could is heartbreaking.”

Miller has not yet mentioned to her children, the youngest of whom is 9, that they might not have funds on their EBT cards next summer because she does not want to cause them stress. But she is already wondering how she will make ends meet once the school year ends.

“I have no clue how I’m going to do it,” she said. “I’m worried.”

Her concerns are echoed by anti-hunger advocates such as Rhonda Chafin, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee, which serves about 43,000 people every month.

“How can we say no to families that need additional resources?” she said. “How can we say no to any program that’s going to bring federal dollars to help families in need with children?”

The Tennessee Justice Center, a public policy advocacy organization, is not giving up hope. It has encouraged hundreds of people to send letters asking the governor to renew Summer EBT for 2025, said Signe Anderson, the center’s senior director of nutrition advocacy.

“We don’t think it’s too late,” Anderson said. “We are doing everything that we can to urge the governor to change his mind.”

But in an email this week, Lee’s office said he does not plan to extend the program.

“The Summer EBT program was established in the pandemic-era to supplement existing food assistance programs in an extraordinary circumstance. The federal government has increasingly shifted the administrative cost burden to the states, prompting Tennessee not to renew our participation, as the program is mostly duplicative,” press secretary Elizabeth Lane Johnson wrote, adding that the Summer Food Service Program served about 3.4 million free meals to children in Tennessee this year.

Advocates say cost is not a valid reason to deny grocery funds to children in need. For this summer, Tennessee paid more than $5.7 million in administrative costs from its budget for Summer EBT, according to the state Department of Human Services. The program brought about $78 million in federal Summer EBT funds to struggling families in Tennessee, which the Food Research & Action Center estimated had up to a $139.1 million total economic impact on the state.

Those fighting childhood hunger feel that aid — and money — should be flowing into Tennessee.

“That’s a missed opportunity for our families and our state as a whole,” said Marissa Spady, senior manager of No Kid Hungry Tennessee, a campaign working to end childhood hunger. “It would be a disappointment.”

Rep. John Ray Clemmons, a Democrat from Nashville who has been advocating for free meals for all children in Tennessee during the school year, called it “heartless” not to extend Summer EBT into 2025. He also said it does not make fiscal sense.

“Every dollar we use to address food insecurity for these children saves us tens of dollars on the back end,” he said. “If we expect those families to be able to get those resources, then we’re just going to have to pull it out of state coffers, which doesn’t make any sense when it’s sitting there from the federal government.”

While the Agriculture Department says it does not yet have a full list of states that will participate in Summer EBT next year, many states have already signed up — including states like Alabama, which did not participate this year but opted in for next year.

Miller is trying to figure out what she will do if Tennessee’s governor doesn’t extend Summer EBT.

“There’s a local food bank, but it’s not exactly within walking distance. Nothing is within walking distance,” she said. “It’s going to be difficult this summer.”

Elizabeth Chuck

Elizabeth Chuck is a reporter for NBC News who focuses on health and mental health, particularly issues that affect women and children.

Source : NBC News

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