Macon’s child hunger rate jumped again. How food programs try to ‘close the gaps’

Middle Georgia is facing a surge in child hunger in recent years, and schools and charities are tasked with fighting the issue during the summer, the most critical time for families who are food insecure.

Over 38,500 children in the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank’s 24-county service region were food insecure in 2022, a 43% increase from the previous year, according to most recent Feeding America data released in May.

“A big proportion of the food insecure people in our 24 counties, including Bibb County, are children. The numbers for children went up dramatically,” said Kathy McCollum, president and CEO of the food bank.

Macon had the second highest rate of children with food insecurity — 32.1% in 2022, corresponding to the city’s 12,190 children who lack access to adequate food and do not know where their next meal will come from. It represents an 8% increase from the 24% rate in 2021.

Condus Shuman, executive director of the Bibb County School District Nutrition Department, said several factors contribute to the increase of food insecurity in Macon, including location, a lack of transportation and access to grocery stores with fresh produce.

“In Middle Georgia, and here in Bibb County, we have a lot of our families who are in food deserts where they don’t have access to those meals readily available,” Shuman said. “If we were to have more companies come in and establish reliable grocery stores, that would be great. Many of our families have access to what we call the mom-and-pop stores, which don’t have a lot of the high-quality protein, dairy or fruits and vegetables.”

Poverty, housing and workforce development also play crucial roles in a family’s inability to access sufficient meals, said Alicia Rivera, chief financial executive of Feeding Georgia Families.

A spike in average weekly meal costs in Macon-Bibb has occurred over a six year period, according to Feeding American data. This coincides with United Way’s recent study that found nearly 60% of Macon residents faced financial hardships in 2022, making it difficult to afford basic living essentials.

Providing free, healthy meals

With an increase of hungry children, local organizations and school programs are working to close the gaps, promote healthy nutrition and give children something that goes beyond academic settings, Rivera said.

“We have a huge issue with children being below the reading levels they’re so supposed to be at, and we can attribute part of that food insecurity increase to not having proper nutrition,” Rivera added. “You can’t think or concentrate if you’re hungry.”

Because over 40% of Bibb County students face food hardship and qualify for SNAP benefits, the school district qualifies for a program that makes all school meals free, Shuman said.

But food assistance is still needed in the summer, where the Bibb County School District Nutrition Department’s Seamless Summer Option program provides free breakfast and lunch meals to students under 18. The program ends Thursday.

Middle Georgia residents have access to a range of food aid resources. This includes over 140 food pantries as part of the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank, which provide emergency groceries to families, said McCollum.

The Mentor’s Project of Bibb County will start its fifth annual summer feeding program July 1, according to BCSD spokesperson Stephanie Hartley. Feeding Georgia Families’ mobile pantry will also return at the Cirrus Academy Charter School on July 26, Rivera said.

“The importance of nutrition and how much it effects the youth’s future capabilities is something that I think really needs to be stressed,” Rivera said. “We’re looking at all of these outcomes after the fact, but if we can address them in the beginning, we could see a much better impact on our students.”

Facing challenges while helping

The Middle Georgia Community Food Bank distributed 9.3 million meals in 2021 and 8.9 million meals in 2022, but there have been challenges in making financial differences for families, McCollum said.

“It feels like we’ve swapped all of the challenges that we’ve had with the pandemic for times of inflation and just uncertainty in terms of jobs,” she said.

Shuman said the BCSD nutrition department has also faced higher costs of food purchases because of inflation. But the district wants to ensure more students get meals during this region-wide period of increasing hunger.

As of last week, the BCSD Summer Feeding Program had served about 11,500 breakfast meals and over 15,000 lunches, according to Shuman. The district’s nutrition department is seeking a revision in the congregate setting requirement, which resulted in fewer meals provided in the community this year compared to previous years, Shuman said.

“If the regulations were to be modified to where our students have meals in a non-congregate setting, that would increase the number of students that participate while decreasing that food insecurity among our students because they would be able to take those meals home and consume them,” she added.