
The Coronavirus outbreak has exposed many different failures within the American infrastructure. These deficiencies range from racism, ageism, homelessness, classism, and the serious issue of food insecurity. With the current presidential administration actively attacking America’s most vulnerable constituents through constant attempts to diminish services such as Medicare, healthcare, and social security, it is no surprise that food benefits and food assistance are in jeopardy.
There are a plethora of social media posts circulating depicting schools that will provide free meals to school-aged children during the Coronavirus quarantine. I hope that meal locations are easily accessible to the most vulnerable families and their children (homeless, low income, working poor) who have transportation issues, such as lacking a car or poor access to pubic transportation. Therefore, educators must be intentional about ensuring that free-meal locations are in the most economically challenged communities, such as food deserts and near Title I schools.
Additionally, some fast-food restaurants are providing free meals to children during this pandemic, such as Burger King (Click2Houston, 2020) and McDonald's (Fox46Charlotte, 2020). McDonald’s in Charlotte, NC is also offering free drive-through meals to seniors. I wish that non-fast food chains would do the same. During this pandemic, I want children and families who are food insecure to also have access to free healthy/healthier options that may be not be available at fast-food restaurants.
Seeing stores that have barren meat, bread, and water shelves and the fact that some stores have to set aside a specific time for the elderly to shop (Business Insider, 2020) are key indications of how far too many Americans lack a communal perspective and selfishly hoard life’s staples, specifically food and water. This is further perpetuated by the implementation of thoughtless legislation that clearly dismisses this egregious inequity. This is the time to be selfless not selfish.
There are a plethora of social media posts circulating depicting schools that will provide free meals to school-aged children during the Coronavirus quarantine. I hope that meal locations are easily accessible to the most vulnerable families and their children (homeless, low income, working poor) who have transportation issues, such as lacking a car or poor access to pubic transportation. Therefore, educators must be intentional about ensuring that free-meal locations are in the most economically challenged communities, such as food deserts and near Title I schools.
Additionally, some fast-food restaurants are providing free meals to children during this pandemic, such as Burger King (Click2Houston, 2020) and McDonald's (Fox46Charlotte, 2020). McDonald’s in Charlotte, NC is also offering free drive-through meals to seniors. I wish that non-fast food chains would do the same. During this pandemic, I want children and families who are food insecure to also have access to free healthy/healthier options that may be not be available at fast-food restaurants.
Seeing stores that have barren meat, bread, and water shelves and the fact that some stores have to set aside a specific time for the elderly to shop (Business Insider, 2020) are key indications of how far too many Americans lack a communal perspective and selfishly hoard life’s staples, specifically food and water. This is further perpetuated by the implementation of thoughtless legislation that clearly dismisses this egregious inequity. This is the time to be selfless not selfish.
What Does The COVID-19 Crisis Say About America's Issue of Food Insecurity?
Shanelle R. Benson Reid, Ph.D., Aaron Griffen, Ph.D.,
Karen Y. Moaton Johnson, Ed.D., Stephen R. Flemming, Ed.D., and Marlene Prater, Ed.D.

Dr. Michael Robinson: What Does The COVID-19 Crisis Say About America’s Issue of Food Insecurity?
Dr. Shanelle R. Benson Reid: The COVID-19 pandemic has shown starvation in America is acceptable when no one is watching, especially in underserved and underrepresented communities. America has turned a blind eye to food insecurity in communities around the country but when it was time to close schoolhouses and there was uproar and outrage, something had to be done. Now, across the country meals are being served to meet the needs of students who would otherwise go hungry.
Dr. Michael Robinson: To What Extent Can School Systems Work To Address Food Insecurity Amid the COVID-19 Crisis?
Dr. Shanelle R. Benson Reid: School systems can work to address food insecurity amid the COVID-19 crisis by (1) acknowledging that there is a problem, (2) remembering that learning can not take place if immediate needs are not met, (3) building community schools that understand the needs of the greater community. Community schools work with families, social services, businesses, and local government agencies to address needs: from skill development and employment to mental health and housing. We can no longer work in silos when hoping to eliminate food insecurity in our communities. We are stronger together.
Dr. Shanelle R. Benson Reid: The COVID-19 pandemic has shown starvation in America is acceptable when no one is watching, especially in underserved and underrepresented communities. America has turned a blind eye to food insecurity in communities around the country but when it was time to close schoolhouses and there was uproar and outrage, something had to be done. Now, across the country meals are being served to meet the needs of students who would otherwise go hungry.
Dr. Michael Robinson: To What Extent Can School Systems Work To Address Food Insecurity Amid the COVID-19 Crisis?
Dr. Shanelle R. Benson Reid: School systems can work to address food insecurity amid the COVID-19 crisis by (1) acknowledging that there is a problem, (2) remembering that learning can not take place if immediate needs are not met, (3) building community schools that understand the needs of the greater community. Community schools work with families, social services, businesses, and local government agencies to address needs: from skill development and employment to mental health and housing. We can no longer work in silos when hoping to eliminate food insecurity in our communities. We are stronger together.

Dr. Michael Robinson: What Does The COVID-19 Crisis Say About America’s Issue of Food Insecurity?
Dr. Aaron J. Griffen: To be frank, there are those who either did not care or choose not to address the food insecurity. We have food deserts in our nation. That says enough. We have supermarkets in areas of our country that do not carry fresh produce. Foods that are good for us cost more than foods that harm us. Therefore, the COVID-19 Crisis says nothing that we did not already know. What the crisis illuminates is how much worse off we are in our most vulnerable communities. This is not a matter of using our resources properly; this is a matter of need not meeting the championed Maslow’s basic Physiological and Safety needs. One cannot and will not feel safe when they are hungry and because of poor nutrition and/or malnourishment, the physiology is impacted. What we are witnessing with food and basic resource hoarding is the human mind and body responding to the potential of a Paper Tiger – “If I do not get enough to eat or enough of anything, I will die”. One could argue that our response to food insecurity is identical and parallel to Wall Street’s issue of wealth insecurity. One notices that execs of multiple corporations resigned while a group of elected offices sold off stock right before the market crashed. Coincidence? Citizens responded this same way to the thought of a food shortage once they heard reports that other countries were shutting down movement among citizens. The COVID -19 Crisis tells us that the bigger issue of food insecurity is a manifestation of overall resource insecurity. We practice “what has been preached” in fear that someone is going to get more than us; therefore, we have to get there first. God forbid someone has as much to eat as me. Welcome to food capitalism.
Dr. Michael Robinson: To What Extent Can School Systems Work to Address Food Insecurity Amid the COVID-19 Crisis?
Dr. Aaron J. Griffen: There is a problem when we have to ask, “To what extent can school systems work to address food insecurity?” This is not the purpose of schools. The purpose of schools is to educate our citizenry and while doing so provide a well-balanced breakfast and lunch (sometimes dinner via dinner programs) to the students while at school. This question indicates that like many of the other societal concerns and issues, food insecurity remains placed at the feet of schools. If any school fails to feed students adequately during this crisis, they will be blamed…not the folks who failed to be proactive and put the systems in place, which would have had schools prepared. We have now ushered in another era of crisis response protocols in schools.
Schools should never have to grapple with how they are going to feed children, what happens when the food runs out, nor if the children will eat while at home. This infrastructure issue remains because those who make the decisions are not impacted. Notice that COVID-19 was a hoax until wealthy and elite citizens contracted the virus. Suddenly it is not a hoax anymore. Now we are going to cancel testing because it affects all children not just negatively affecting the high poverty schools for not meeting testing participation requirements set by the federal government. One wonders if there will also be a bailout to the testing industry.
Schools cannot address food insecurity to the extent is necessary because schools remain hampered by regulations and lack of resource provisions. However, as they always do, schools will respond to it, survive it, learn through it, and somehow address the needs of their students and families amid this time. We always come through when other industries choose not to address an issue or simply cannot. We do not have the option of a bailout. Furthermore, our elected leaders have to address this issue finally by first listening and including educators as a part of all decisions on educational matters. Secondly, make educational funding and teacher salaries the top priority - not a non-investable burden. Next, provide equitable school lunch where all students can access the same quality of foods and food options. Lastly, provide for afterschool programming. To sustain, the redirection of funding from education in order to finance campaign promises must no longer occur. We cannot continue to be a have and have not nation, for food insecurity should be a human rights issue. Failure to address it by all citizens will keep us where we were before and during the crisis – socially isolated.
Dr. Aaron J. Griffen: To be frank, there are those who either did not care or choose not to address the food insecurity. We have food deserts in our nation. That says enough. We have supermarkets in areas of our country that do not carry fresh produce. Foods that are good for us cost more than foods that harm us. Therefore, the COVID-19 Crisis says nothing that we did not already know. What the crisis illuminates is how much worse off we are in our most vulnerable communities. This is not a matter of using our resources properly; this is a matter of need not meeting the championed Maslow’s basic Physiological and Safety needs. One cannot and will not feel safe when they are hungry and because of poor nutrition and/or malnourishment, the physiology is impacted. What we are witnessing with food and basic resource hoarding is the human mind and body responding to the potential of a Paper Tiger – “If I do not get enough to eat or enough of anything, I will die”. One could argue that our response to food insecurity is identical and parallel to Wall Street’s issue of wealth insecurity. One notices that execs of multiple corporations resigned while a group of elected offices sold off stock right before the market crashed. Coincidence? Citizens responded this same way to the thought of a food shortage once they heard reports that other countries were shutting down movement among citizens. The COVID -19 Crisis tells us that the bigger issue of food insecurity is a manifestation of overall resource insecurity. We practice “what has been preached” in fear that someone is going to get more than us; therefore, we have to get there first. God forbid someone has as much to eat as me. Welcome to food capitalism.
Dr. Michael Robinson: To What Extent Can School Systems Work to Address Food Insecurity Amid the COVID-19 Crisis?
Dr. Aaron J. Griffen: There is a problem when we have to ask, “To what extent can school systems work to address food insecurity?” This is not the purpose of schools. The purpose of schools is to educate our citizenry and while doing so provide a well-balanced breakfast and lunch (sometimes dinner via dinner programs) to the students while at school. This question indicates that like many of the other societal concerns and issues, food insecurity remains placed at the feet of schools. If any school fails to feed students adequately during this crisis, they will be blamed…not the folks who failed to be proactive and put the systems in place, which would have had schools prepared. We have now ushered in another era of crisis response protocols in schools.
Schools should never have to grapple with how they are going to feed children, what happens when the food runs out, nor if the children will eat while at home. This infrastructure issue remains because those who make the decisions are not impacted. Notice that COVID-19 was a hoax until wealthy and elite citizens contracted the virus. Suddenly it is not a hoax anymore. Now we are going to cancel testing because it affects all children not just negatively affecting the high poverty schools for not meeting testing participation requirements set by the federal government. One wonders if there will also be a bailout to the testing industry.
Schools cannot address food insecurity to the extent is necessary because schools remain hampered by regulations and lack of resource provisions. However, as they always do, schools will respond to it, survive it, learn through it, and somehow address the needs of their students and families amid this time. We always come through when other industries choose not to address an issue or simply cannot. We do not have the option of a bailout. Furthermore, our elected leaders have to address this issue finally by first listening and including educators as a part of all decisions on educational matters. Secondly, make educational funding and teacher salaries the top priority - not a non-investable burden. Next, provide equitable school lunch where all students can access the same quality of foods and food options. Lastly, provide for afterschool programming. To sustain, the redirection of funding from education in order to finance campaign promises must no longer occur. We cannot continue to be a have and have not nation, for food insecurity should be a human rights issue. Failure to address it by all citizens will keep us where we were before and during the crisis – socially isolated.

Dr. Michael Robinson: What Does The COVID-19 Crisis Say About America’s Issue of Food Insecurity?
Dr. Karen Y. Moaton Johnson: Amid the COVID-19 Crisis, we have been shown how deeply food insecurity runs in this country. It was disheartening to see that the first concern about closing schools was not how will students continue their education but instead, how will many students receive a meal. Whether people want to accept it or not, schools have become more than just a place for learning. For many students, schools have become safe havens, places where they can receive love and encouragement and yes, a hot meal or two if the school serves breakfast. Many parents work two jobs to keep a roof overhead and utilities on and can struggle to provide nourishing meals. Schools have filled this void by ensuring most will have something to eat for the day. With schools closing and many not reopening, the fear that many children will go hungry is real. The fact that closing schools become a food insecurity issue in a land where people are hoarding as much as they can is appalling. Government programs are being cut regularly and poor people are being forced to choose to pay for a place to live over buying food, increasing their dependence on school and other outside food programs.
Dr. Michael Robinson: To What Extent Can School Systems Work To Address Food Insecurity Amid the COVID-19 Crisis?
Dr. Karen Y. Moaton Johnson: In light of this Crisis, many districts have stepped up to fill the void. Many schools are providing grab and go breakfasts and lunches as well as working with community partners such as food banks and local restaurants to provide meals for students. My school district is also working with food banks to provide food boxes for families as well. This crisis has bought communities together to ensure that our most vulnerable are receiving what they need. This is also the time to examine government policies, both local and national, to understand what needs to be changed and how we can work to change them. No one should fear going hungry in a nation of plenty and this crisis has shown us we need to have a plan in place to deal with it. Now is the time for us to create a workable plan for the next crisis that will impact our communities.
Dr. Karen Y. Moaton Johnson: Amid the COVID-19 Crisis, we have been shown how deeply food insecurity runs in this country. It was disheartening to see that the first concern about closing schools was not how will students continue their education but instead, how will many students receive a meal. Whether people want to accept it or not, schools have become more than just a place for learning. For many students, schools have become safe havens, places where they can receive love and encouragement and yes, a hot meal or two if the school serves breakfast. Many parents work two jobs to keep a roof overhead and utilities on and can struggle to provide nourishing meals. Schools have filled this void by ensuring most will have something to eat for the day. With schools closing and many not reopening, the fear that many children will go hungry is real. The fact that closing schools become a food insecurity issue in a land where people are hoarding as much as they can is appalling. Government programs are being cut regularly and poor people are being forced to choose to pay for a place to live over buying food, increasing their dependence on school and other outside food programs.
Dr. Michael Robinson: To What Extent Can School Systems Work To Address Food Insecurity Amid the COVID-19 Crisis?
Dr. Karen Y. Moaton Johnson: In light of this Crisis, many districts have stepped up to fill the void. Many schools are providing grab and go breakfasts and lunches as well as working with community partners such as food banks and local restaurants to provide meals for students. My school district is also working with food banks to provide food boxes for families as well. This crisis has bought communities together to ensure that our most vulnerable are receiving what they need. This is also the time to examine government policies, both local and national, to understand what needs to be changed and how we can work to change them. No one should fear going hungry in a nation of plenty and this crisis has shown us we need to have a plan in place to deal with it. Now is the time for us to create a workable plan for the next crisis that will impact our communities.

Dr. Michael Robinson: What Does The COVID-19 Crisis Say About America’s Issue of Food Insecurity?
Dr. Stephen R. Flemming: “I’m just here for the food.” Those were the words I overheard one of my high school students say one Friday several weeks ago, long before the COVID-19 crisis overwhelmed us. It was a scheduled professional development day, so students would be dismissed at 12noon. This student’s only reason for coming for a few hours? “I’m just here for the food.”
The COVID-19 crisis has brought the world including America to its knees and has exposed the already pressing issue of economic injustice which includes food insecurity. The U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion defines food insecurity as “the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money and other resources.” According to Broke in Philadelphia, “a collaborative reporting project on the solutions to poverty and the city’s push towards economic justice,” and based on data from the USDA, 18.3% of Philadelphians were food insecure during the 2015-2017 timespan. Nationally, the percentage was 11.1% during that same timeframe. This percentage of Philadelphia households identified as food insecure makes the public school the primary place for students to eat at least two meals a day, breakfast and lunch.
Because of the responses to the outbreak of the Coronavirus in neighboring counties, staffing at many of our schools in the city would have been adversely affected. As a result, school district officials here initially decided to close 63 of our 215 public schools on Friday, March 13th. Meals were not served to students of the affected schools on that day. Because of the rapid spread of the Coronavirus and because of surrounding county-wide shutdowns, district officials decided that Philadelphia’s schools would close for two weeks beginning that upcoming Monday. Shortly afterward, our governor made the call for the entire state to do the same, that all public schools in Pennsylvania close for two weeks, at least.
Admittedly, I was slow to come to terms with the idea of closing schools due to the Coronavirus. I was not totally against it neither was I leaning hard into it. I am completely on board now but was initially hesitant for one of many reasons including access to meals. Whether we like this fact or not, schools are not simply places for teaching and learning. While education is our primary function, public schools have been, and perhaps more so now, places where a variety of students’ needs can be met, including their meal needs.
With schools having now closed unexpectedly for at least two weeks, how would the students who are “just here for the food” and who depend heavily on school meals, eat? The bigger question is, why is there a dependency on schools for food when schools, in theory, should just be for education? I figured some plan would be enacted locally and that our students would be cared for during the closures. But the fact that students depend on the meals served at school shines a larger light on food insecurity in our nation. For the record, I am completely for schools serving meals! Every student who wants to eat a nutritious and satisfying meal at school should be able to do so, for free! That we live in an America where students depend on the school serving food is the problem.
Locally, Black and Latino students collectively make up 73% of Philadelphia’s public school population, while white students make up 14%. For some perspective, 45% of the population in Philadelphia is white and roughly 60% are Black or Latino. It is safe to assume that with the closure of public schools, at least locally, the injustice of food insecurity becomes a larger social justice issue.
During this COVID-19 crisis, Philadelphia is responding to the meal needs of all students while schools are closed. During the first week of closures, students could go to one of any 30 identified schools around the city for “grab and go” meals between the hours of 9am and 12noon. Updated information identifies 80 locations across the city where students can go for food on varying schedules. These sites include a mix of district schools, charter schools, and public housing locations.
Dr. Michael Robinson: To what extent can school systems work to address food insecurity amid the COVID-19 crisis?
Dr. Stephen R. Flemming: Many school systems are already doing the work. Big cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and others have identified schools and other sites from which students may pick up meals. In addition to the site-based approach, Baltimore City Public Schools has instituted mobile meal routes, where they make stops around the city at particular times for breakfast and lunch. Baltimore is also ensuring that students are fed through the weekend. The Cleveland Metropolitan School District has identified sites for meal pick up, but also provides shuttle bus service to these sites.
Rural districts are also putting in the work. Some are adopting site-based approaches much like their urban counterparts. Meyersdale Area School District in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania is making meals available to students in one of four locations including one school and three area fire department parking lots. Other rural districts are collaborating with their community partners as is the Morgan Local School District in Morgan County, Ohio. In response to some miscommunication, one of their public Facebook posts stated in part, “Currently, the amazing response from area food banks, churches, and local individuals is filling that need here in Morgan County, Ohio.”
This crisis has further exposed several known structural deficiencies in this country. From the degree to which our health systems and infrastructure are prepared for a nationwide pandemic, technological and internet inaccessibility, and economic injustice including the necessity for paid sick leave and food insecurity, this Coronavirus crisis shows that we have been weighed in the balances and have been found wanting. Where there may be school districts and municipalities that are unable to meet their students’ meal needs, the federal government should spare no expense to ensure our communities are fed during these trying times. Then when this crisis is over and we are trying to piece back together some semblance of life and order, we must be serious about addressing these pertinent issues in our communities. In doing so, when next year’s virus comes, we will be ready to mitigate the health and economic effects it will have.
Dr. Stephen R. Flemming: “I’m just here for the food.” Those were the words I overheard one of my high school students say one Friday several weeks ago, long before the COVID-19 crisis overwhelmed us. It was a scheduled professional development day, so students would be dismissed at 12noon. This student’s only reason for coming for a few hours? “I’m just here for the food.”
The COVID-19 crisis has brought the world including America to its knees and has exposed the already pressing issue of economic injustice which includes food insecurity. The U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion defines food insecurity as “the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money and other resources.” According to Broke in Philadelphia, “a collaborative reporting project on the solutions to poverty and the city’s push towards economic justice,” and based on data from the USDA, 18.3% of Philadelphians were food insecure during the 2015-2017 timespan. Nationally, the percentage was 11.1% during that same timeframe. This percentage of Philadelphia households identified as food insecure makes the public school the primary place for students to eat at least two meals a day, breakfast and lunch.
Because of the responses to the outbreak of the Coronavirus in neighboring counties, staffing at many of our schools in the city would have been adversely affected. As a result, school district officials here initially decided to close 63 of our 215 public schools on Friday, March 13th. Meals were not served to students of the affected schools on that day. Because of the rapid spread of the Coronavirus and because of surrounding county-wide shutdowns, district officials decided that Philadelphia’s schools would close for two weeks beginning that upcoming Monday. Shortly afterward, our governor made the call for the entire state to do the same, that all public schools in Pennsylvania close for two weeks, at least.
Admittedly, I was slow to come to terms with the idea of closing schools due to the Coronavirus. I was not totally against it neither was I leaning hard into it. I am completely on board now but was initially hesitant for one of many reasons including access to meals. Whether we like this fact or not, schools are not simply places for teaching and learning. While education is our primary function, public schools have been, and perhaps more so now, places where a variety of students’ needs can be met, including their meal needs.
With schools having now closed unexpectedly for at least two weeks, how would the students who are “just here for the food” and who depend heavily on school meals, eat? The bigger question is, why is there a dependency on schools for food when schools, in theory, should just be for education? I figured some plan would be enacted locally and that our students would be cared for during the closures. But the fact that students depend on the meals served at school shines a larger light on food insecurity in our nation. For the record, I am completely for schools serving meals! Every student who wants to eat a nutritious and satisfying meal at school should be able to do so, for free! That we live in an America where students depend on the school serving food is the problem.
Locally, Black and Latino students collectively make up 73% of Philadelphia’s public school population, while white students make up 14%. For some perspective, 45% of the population in Philadelphia is white and roughly 60% are Black or Latino. It is safe to assume that with the closure of public schools, at least locally, the injustice of food insecurity becomes a larger social justice issue.
During this COVID-19 crisis, Philadelphia is responding to the meal needs of all students while schools are closed. During the first week of closures, students could go to one of any 30 identified schools around the city for “grab and go” meals between the hours of 9am and 12noon. Updated information identifies 80 locations across the city where students can go for food on varying schedules. These sites include a mix of district schools, charter schools, and public housing locations.
Dr. Michael Robinson: To what extent can school systems work to address food insecurity amid the COVID-19 crisis?
Dr. Stephen R. Flemming: Many school systems are already doing the work. Big cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and others have identified schools and other sites from which students may pick up meals. In addition to the site-based approach, Baltimore City Public Schools has instituted mobile meal routes, where they make stops around the city at particular times for breakfast and lunch. Baltimore is also ensuring that students are fed through the weekend. The Cleveland Metropolitan School District has identified sites for meal pick up, but also provides shuttle bus service to these sites.
Rural districts are also putting in the work. Some are adopting site-based approaches much like their urban counterparts. Meyersdale Area School District in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania is making meals available to students in one of four locations including one school and three area fire department parking lots. Other rural districts are collaborating with their community partners as is the Morgan Local School District in Morgan County, Ohio. In response to some miscommunication, one of their public Facebook posts stated in part, “Currently, the amazing response from area food banks, churches, and local individuals is filling that need here in Morgan County, Ohio.”
This crisis has further exposed several known structural deficiencies in this country. From the degree to which our health systems and infrastructure are prepared for a nationwide pandemic, technological and internet inaccessibility, and economic injustice including the necessity for paid sick leave and food insecurity, this Coronavirus crisis shows that we have been weighed in the balances and have been found wanting. Where there may be school districts and municipalities that are unable to meet their students’ meal needs, the federal government should spare no expense to ensure our communities are fed during these trying times. Then when this crisis is over and we are trying to piece back together some semblance of life and order, we must be serious about addressing these pertinent issues in our communities. In doing so, when next year’s virus comes, we will be ready to mitigate the health and economic effects it will have.

Dr. Michael Robinson: What Does the COVID-19 crisis say about America’s issue of food insecurity?
Dr. Marlene Prater: The COVID-19 Crisis has brought America to her knees. The issue of food insecurity is a major concern. Low household incomes, unemployment, bills, and providing for families and extended families currently makes it difficult for many people to get food and especially healthy food. The public schools in my county closed a few days before our governor announced mandatory statewide school closings. The closure occurred before anyone in the county tested positive for COVID-19. Since schools have been closed, I’ve heard of two positive cases of the virus in this county.
COVID-19 is disrupting every aspect of American life beyond our educational systems. Many people are stockpiling food and buying non-food items as they are preparing to shelter for what some are saying could be weeks to prevent the spread of the virus. The responses of families to COVID-19 are creating a few unforeseen challenges -- people are spending money normally budgeted for groceries on non-food items such as cleaning productions and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like masks, gloves, and goggles. Subsequently, as Americans do their part to combat this pandemic, businesses and schools have closed to slow down the spread of COVID-19 by closing their doors. Sadly, these decisions have resulted in workers finding themselves furloughed or laid off, and many others are on the verge of losing their financial lifelines.
If/when incomes are lost and government financial assistance is slow to come or, in worst cases, does not arrive at all, it begs the dire question of where will the money for food come from? It is likely that situations will worsen for all of us if assistance is not provided to people from all backgrounds and contexts. Food banks, co-ops, community gardens, and disaster relief funds can be an essential part of survival.
COVID-19 is creating havoc in America and the world. In many areas, there are fresh meat and seafood markets, but you must have money. That ability remains sketchy for so many Americans. Millions of Americans are living in communities that were designated as food deserts before the COVID-19 crisis. The arrival of COVID-19 has magnified the level of food insecurity facing our most vulnerable Americans.
To repeat, PPEs are in short supply and when available, they are designated for medical personal on the front line working to stem the tide of COVID-19. But any discussion related to food insecurity during the crisis has to explore the health of Americans other frontline workers. Major grocery store chains are working around the clock to keep their shelves stocked, but who are those on the front line? Who is considering the health of Food Handlers?
If COVID-19 lingers on for months, as some suggest, many people might be able to provide for families by planting vegetable gardens and preserving or freezing the vegetables and fruits that they harvest. This might help with the problem, but the government will still have to step in to assist with commodities. Gardening would allow people to practice social distancing and provide outdoor exercise.
Factors that Contribute to Food Insecurity
Truckers are working hard to deliver products to stores. However, truckers are being overworked, and many can’t find open truck stops or restaurants to eat meals or to accommodate them. Truckers are working diligently and are suffering from fatigue. There might come a time when truckers can’t deliver merchandise to stores. The government informed us to prepare for two weeks of isolation. However, many people are hoarding food. I can recall that after a major hurricane, a local brewing company packaged water for the victims. While there are factories and businesses responding to the crisis by halting their production lines and producing items that will benefit the victims of COVID-19, as well as the citizens that might be isolated at homes, low-income families will still find themselves at risk for food and health services.
Dr. Michael Robinson: To what extent can school systems work to address food insecurity amid the COVID-19 crisis?
Dr. Marlene Prater: Teachers have cleared, cleaned, wiped down desks, and cleaned doorknobs. They have also prepared online lessons and assembled packets of materials for students to use while out of school. If it weren’t for schools, and the meals they provide, many students would be hungry. For some children, school breakfast and lunch are the only two meals they have throughout a given day. Children suffering from hunger have always been a concern for teachers and members of the community which is why many school districts across the United States provide meals during the summer.
Currently, in my school district, two meals are offered each day at three schools in this small town, and there is also a program that provides daily meals for elderly adults. Providing meals is helping with the hunger problem, but there is still a need for assistance with food during this pandemic. No one knows how long school systems can keep up their school feeding programs. Therefore, we all must realize that millions of children might lose nutritious meals if these and other community-based food programs are forced to stop because of lack of funding or staff. America's most vulnerable citizens – children - are in danger of losing out on the food and services they need to survive. If truckers are unable to keep up with demand and schools can no longer provide meals twice a day and families are unable to return to work, we can expect that the issue of food insecurity will expand beyond low-income families in urban communities or isolated rural community. Every teacher must know that it takes all of us to help in these difficult times.
Dr. Marlene Prater: The COVID-19 Crisis has brought America to her knees. The issue of food insecurity is a major concern. Low household incomes, unemployment, bills, and providing for families and extended families currently makes it difficult for many people to get food and especially healthy food. The public schools in my county closed a few days before our governor announced mandatory statewide school closings. The closure occurred before anyone in the county tested positive for COVID-19. Since schools have been closed, I’ve heard of two positive cases of the virus in this county.
COVID-19 is disrupting every aspect of American life beyond our educational systems. Many people are stockpiling food and buying non-food items as they are preparing to shelter for what some are saying could be weeks to prevent the spread of the virus. The responses of families to COVID-19 are creating a few unforeseen challenges -- people are spending money normally budgeted for groceries on non-food items such as cleaning productions and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like masks, gloves, and goggles. Subsequently, as Americans do their part to combat this pandemic, businesses and schools have closed to slow down the spread of COVID-19 by closing their doors. Sadly, these decisions have resulted in workers finding themselves furloughed or laid off, and many others are on the verge of losing their financial lifelines.
If/when incomes are lost and government financial assistance is slow to come or, in worst cases, does not arrive at all, it begs the dire question of where will the money for food come from? It is likely that situations will worsen for all of us if assistance is not provided to people from all backgrounds and contexts. Food banks, co-ops, community gardens, and disaster relief funds can be an essential part of survival.
COVID-19 is creating havoc in America and the world. In many areas, there are fresh meat and seafood markets, but you must have money. That ability remains sketchy for so many Americans. Millions of Americans are living in communities that were designated as food deserts before the COVID-19 crisis. The arrival of COVID-19 has magnified the level of food insecurity facing our most vulnerable Americans.
To repeat, PPEs are in short supply and when available, they are designated for medical personal on the front line working to stem the tide of COVID-19. But any discussion related to food insecurity during the crisis has to explore the health of Americans other frontline workers. Major grocery store chains are working around the clock to keep their shelves stocked, but who are those on the front line? Who is considering the health of Food Handlers?
If COVID-19 lingers on for months, as some suggest, many people might be able to provide for families by planting vegetable gardens and preserving or freezing the vegetables and fruits that they harvest. This might help with the problem, but the government will still have to step in to assist with commodities. Gardening would allow people to practice social distancing and provide outdoor exercise.
Factors that Contribute to Food Insecurity
Truckers are working hard to deliver products to stores. However, truckers are being overworked, and many can’t find open truck stops or restaurants to eat meals or to accommodate them. Truckers are working diligently and are suffering from fatigue. There might come a time when truckers can’t deliver merchandise to stores. The government informed us to prepare for two weeks of isolation. However, many people are hoarding food. I can recall that after a major hurricane, a local brewing company packaged water for the victims. While there are factories and businesses responding to the crisis by halting their production lines and producing items that will benefit the victims of COVID-19, as well as the citizens that might be isolated at homes, low-income families will still find themselves at risk for food and health services.
Dr. Michael Robinson: To what extent can school systems work to address food insecurity amid the COVID-19 crisis?
Dr. Marlene Prater: Teachers have cleared, cleaned, wiped down desks, and cleaned doorknobs. They have also prepared online lessons and assembled packets of materials for students to use while out of school. If it weren’t for schools, and the meals they provide, many students would be hungry. For some children, school breakfast and lunch are the only two meals they have throughout a given day. Children suffering from hunger have always been a concern for teachers and members of the community which is why many school districts across the United States provide meals during the summer.
Currently, in my school district, two meals are offered each day at three schools in this small town, and there is also a program that provides daily meals for elderly adults. Providing meals is helping with the hunger problem, but there is still a need for assistance with food during this pandemic. No one knows how long school systems can keep up their school feeding programs. Therefore, we all must realize that millions of children might lose nutritious meals if these and other community-based food programs are forced to stop because of lack of funding or staff. America's most vulnerable citizens – children - are in danger of losing out on the food and services they need to survive. If truckers are unable to keep up with demand and schools can no longer provide meals twice a day and families are unable to return to work, we can expect that the issue of food insecurity will expand beyond low-income families in urban communities or isolated rural community. Every teacher must know that it takes all of us to help in these difficult times.