Midmorning With Aundrea - October 15, 2020 (Part 1)

(Part 1 of 4) We explore a struggle facing millions of Americans: how to afford food for their children.

It's been difficult for nutrition programs to run at full capacity in the age of remote learning.

>> when you did it, i thought, we we've talked about this before.

But it bears repeating.

In the cbsl series "school matters, we're looking at a struggle millions of parents face: how to afford áfoodá for their children.

During the summer, the census bureau says kids in up to 13 million households did ánotá have enough food to eat.

And less than 20 percent of children, who qualified for free and reduced lunch, got the meals they need.

Nancy cordes looked at why it's been so difficult to keep those nutrition programs running at áfull capacityá during remote learning.

In cincinnati, ohio 85 percent of students qualified for food assistance even before the pandemic hit.

Hey there kiddos, how are you... when schools shut down, officials made sure no student lived more than a mile from a pickup site like this one... but still the city served just ten percent of the meals it did when schools were open.

I don't know what we would have done without it quite frankly.

Ashlee o'neil runs a food truck with her husband...the mom of two worries about sending her daughters back to school in person starting this week anxieties high.

We don't really know what to expect /// i don't have a nine to five, where i absolutely have to be there.

And for the people that do have that, i'm sure they're freaking out right now.

23.4 million families have lost income due to the pandemic ...many children qualifying for the national school lunch program for the first time& because their family is suddenly making less than $48,000 a year for a family of four.

Community groups have stepped in to help&but schools remain a major source of food for children& yet eighty percent of schools report serving fewer meals after they shut down last spring a lot of our families are in a new position of unemployment, this is new for them not to be able to go out and purchase food on a regular basis.

Jessica shelly, cincinnati's director of student dining services, has relied on waivers from the department of agriculture to distribute food regardless of whether families have been formally approved for benefits i think there might be students in the district that aren't getting the nutrition they need each day.

And that's why it's so important that meal boxes and meals are available for all students.

So there is no stigma attached to getting a school meal and that all families can feel like they can come and get the nutrition they need to support their students.

In late august, agriculture secretary sonny perdue told lawmakers that allowing schools to feed all children for free was "...beyond&" h agency's "...authority&" less than two weeks later - perdue reversed course, extending the summer meals program through the end of december, and last month, congressman bobby scott helped make sure the program could continue until the end of the school year.

You don't have to go to a specific site.

You don't have to show that you're qualified for a free meal or reduced price meal or full price meal.

You can just get your meal.

/// there's already significant childhood hunger going on in america today.

We can avoid this we can minimize it.

If we fund these programs appropriately and give the flexibility so the programs can reach the children.

/// at this point it's crucial ryan lopez was laid off in march& hi - how many kids do you have...three?

He says free school meals have removed a major burden on a budget still recovering from the expiration of federal unemployment benefits i went from making over 1500 a week to now i'm just over 400 a week /// there's no longevity to any of these plans, it just seems like next week we'll figure it out, next week we'll figure it out, next week we'll figure it out.

Cordes outcue: nutrition programs also rely on meal delivery as a just ahead, learning together the best way to teach students.

Mid