In one of the wealthiest areas of the nation, no child should go hungry — especially when there is federal funding available to completely reimburse schools for the cost of meals.

One of the most striking aspects I noticed when I first moved to Silicon Valley to work at Stanford was the deep level of income inequality. Looking between the million-dollar homes and venture-backed startups you will find families having to choose between paying rent and providing food to their children.

Many of those children rely on food banks and the free and reduced-price lunch program for the majority of their calories — but what happens when they are out of school during summer break?

For some students, their respective school districts use the federal program Seamless Summer, which provides funding to reimburse meals to children over the summer. Yet many low-income students, especially those within wealthy school districts, go without because their school does not enroll in Seamless Summer.

Looking at public data provided by the California Department of Education, out of the nine school districts that surround Stanford University, only three are enrolled as Seamless Summer sponsors. This is appalling considering that every one of those school districts has students who use the free and reduced-price lunch program.

The challenges of low-income families within wealthy school districts become exacerbated by notions that such districts don’t need assistance. School districts need to become aware of their role in supporting the most vulnerable populations when it comes to food insecurity.

Thus, I push all school districts that don’t use Seamless Summer to reconsider their summer programming to account for children who are in need. If childhood hunger within your school district is an overlooked problem, seek to understand. If the logistics of implementing Seamless Summer is a challenge, look for supporting partnerships.

One of the strengths of Seamless Summer is the ability for school districts to sponsor other local community organizations to distribute food and expand their reach. In other words, school districts don’t have to act alone to support ending child hunger within their community.

Now as a graduate student at Stanford, one of my projects is to help facilitate the collaboration between a school district and a community clinic to provide an additional Summer Seamless location for children to receive meals. But this project alone won’t end childhood hunger within the Silicon Valley. It takes a collective effort from schools, local organizations and community members to make an impact.

You too can help make a difference for children struggling with hunger within your community. Push your respective school district to enroll in Seamless Summer if it isn’t already. Donate healthy foods to your local food bank. Seek ways for your organization or employer to partner with local school districts to become a food distribution site. And most importantly, make an effort to find forms of inequality hidden within plain site amongst your community.

 

— Mark Freeman II M.S. ’18