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Why SNAP Benefits are *NECESSARY* | Let’s Talk Kids

• Lets Talk Kids @ ACNJ • Season 1 • Episode 8

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0:00 | 45:18

Lisa Pitz, Director of Hunger Free New Jersey, shares unique insights and growing concerns regarding Food Insecurity in the state and country as a whole. This episode covers everything from the inner workings of Food Pantries, to the future of SNAP Benefits.


Learn more about Hunger Free New Jersey below!

hungerfreenj.org - Hunger Free NJ

www.nj.gov/humanservices/njsnap/recipients/stay/ - Learn More about SNAP Benefits

lsnj.org - Legal Services of New Jersey


VIDEO OUTLINE


00:00 - Intro

00:33 - What is Hunger Free New Jersey & Lisa’s Backstory

04:32 - Hunger Free NJ Programs, Enrollment, & Eligibility

12:36 - Food Insecurity in New Jersey Families

16:45 - “Farm to School” Programs in NJ

19:01 - What are SNAP Benefits & How are they changing?

29:54 - Who is most affected by SNAP changes? How can they find help?

32:45 - Lisa’s wishlist for the next 10 Years & Food Pantries for College Students

40:30 - How to get involved in Food Pantry donations or volunteering

43:42 - Outro



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Thank you so much for watching. See below for more information on Let’s Talk Kids and ACNJ.

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Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) Official Website - acnj.org

PODCAST LINKS

CONTACTS

  • mcoogan@acnj.org - Mary Coogan - Host of Let’s Talk Kids | CEO of ACNJ
  • vjabon@acnj.org - Viggo Jabon - Editor of Let’s Talk Kids | Multimedia Specialist at ACNJ



SPEAKER_00

Welcome to Let's Talk Kids. I'm Mary Coogan, president and CEO of Advocates for Children of New Jersey, and the host of Let's Talk Kids, a video podcast of conversations with community organizations, policymakers, and experts on topics impacting children and youth. Joining me today is Lisa Pitts, the director of Hunger Free New Jersey. So glad you could join me, Lisa. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having me. So let's start with what is Hunger Free New Jersey?

SPEAKER_01

Hunger Free New Jersey is a statewide anti-hunger advocacy organization, and we work to improve access to healthy food for all in New Jersey. The primary focus of our advocacy is really on strengthening and protecting and improving access to the federal nutrition programs like SNAP and the child nutrition programs, because we know that those really are the first line of defense against hunger and food insecurity in our state and across the nation.

SPEAKER_00

What brought you to Hunger Free New Jersey?

SPEAKER_01

So I actually, which is hard to believe, I'm in my 24th year at Hunger Free New Jersey, four years as director. Prior to that, I served in different roles in the organization, primarily doing outreach, a lot of the grassroots level work. I was working for an organization doing direct service, really more in like the homelessness space and housing space. And at that time I became acquainted with Hunger Free New Jersey and the previous director. And an opportunity came up there. I was really interested in the work that they were doing. And I took the opportunity. And again, I'm in my 24th year at Hunger Free.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. So you mentioned you had been working at a direct service versus Hunger Free New Jersey is an advocacy organization. So my sense is direct service meaning actually people are coming in to get some type of help or benefit.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, that's correct.

SPEAKER_00

And the advocacy, I know you have a very small staff. It might be you and one other person. So is the advocacy work, would you say legislative policy work?

SPEAKER_01

Yes. It's sort of big P policy, little P policy work. Our advocacy focuses on the federal level because many of the programs that we're working on are federal nutrition programs on the state level, some of which is legislative in nature. We do work with the different state agencies that administer the nutrition programs on regulatory and programmatic advocacy. And a lot of our work is very grassroots. We're engaged with several different countywide and local coalitions that are working to improve food access in their communities. We do a lot of work with school districts and community and faith-based organizations throughout the state to try to get programs started and to strengthen access to those programs on the community level. So we really try to come at the issue from every level.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm thinking if you're talking about community programs like churches, whatever, they might be trying to help enroll people and you might be giving them the information on how to do that or where they get the information, or could we say maybe trying to get rid of some of the barriers that hinder enrollment in a quick and easy way?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, sure. I mean, some of the work on the local level is outreach, just letting folks in the community know what programs and services are available to them. Sometimes working with local folks to actually help people complete applications if that's possible. And also working with local organizations. For example, if there's a community-based organization that is running an after-school program, they might be willing to come on board as an after-school meal site, or working with a municipal government that maybe runs a summer camp, you know, trying to talk to them about becoming a summer meal site so that kids can get a meal there in the summer when they don't have access to school meals. And then on the local level, working with the districts to implement programs, everything from breakfast after the bell to like opting into something called community eligibility provision, where they can offer free breakfast and lunch to all the kids, as well as operating summer food and after-school meal sites as well. So there's lots of opportunities on the local level to expand program access and also to do the outreach, uh engage the community in the work, and let people know it's available to them.

SPEAKER_00

That's terrific. So, how about let's talk about some of those programs? So you mentioned after uh breakfast after the bell, school meals. So, what is available? And I'm thinking you had said some of this is it's government-funded programs, but some of it is federal and some might be state.

SPEAKER_01

So the so the federal nutrition programs, the the dollars that come into New Jersey all come from the federal government, right? So the reimbursement for the meals and some admin costs. Um school meals. We have the school breakfast program, national school breakfast program, the national school lunch program, which many, most of our schools participate in, at least the national school lunch program. And provides, you know, breakfast and lunch, healthy breakfast and lunch to our kids during the school day. But schools really have become like a primary source of nutrition for our kids. Um, they can also run the summer meals program, they can also run the after-school meals program, which again is a federal program under the Child and Adult Care Food Program, lots of acronyms, acronym SUP. Um, but CACFP is sort of a broad umbrella program that can provide nutrition to kids in preschool and after care, after school programs, as well as adult and senior congregate meeting sites.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so if my children attend XYZ school, do they just get breakfast and lunch or who's eligible for it?

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so eligibility, this the school district would have to participate in the national school breakfast or lunch program, right? And then kids can qualify for either free, reduced, or paid category school meals. So they can qualify, you know, either through submitting a school meal application, uh, which is now the school meal and summer EBT application.

SPEAKER_00

EBT.

SPEAKER_01

EBT stands for acronym SUP, electronic benefits transfer, uh, which is basically just a card. Um and Summer EBT is a new program. We're actually coming into year three of Summer EBT in New Jersey, again, federal program, um, that provides $120 per eligible child on the EBT card so that parents can purchase groceries during the summer months when kids don't have access to the breakfast and lunch at school. So now when a parent completes a school meal and summer EBT application, if their child or children are income eligible for free or reduced price school meals, they would get those free meals at school and be eligible for summer EBT as well. So it determines eligibility for both programs. So it's it's a really great thing.

SPEAKER_00

So I remember, Governor, former Governor Murphy, maybe a two years ago, there was legislation that passed that increased the income eligibility to, I want to say it was 224 percent of federal poverty, which I think is low $70,000 for a household of four, right? So when you say income eligible, that's pretty expansive in New Jersey, right?

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. Um first of all, several years back in I think it was 2019, um, New Jersey passed legislation that eliminated the reduced price category. Then we had in 2022 and again in 2024, the Working Class Families Anti-Hunger Act, which were two pieces of legislation that increased income eligibility for free school meals. So first, the first incremental increase was 200% of the federal poverty level. The second was 224% that you mentioned. Um again, it it's expanding access because we know that the federal poverty levels, the income guidelines are set so, so low that you can be sometimes double that and still be struggling to make ends meet, especially in an expensive state like New Jersey. So that kind of policy is so critically important to make sure that we are expanding access to these child nutrition programs for our low-income working families who are struggling. Um as you said, even when you look at 224% of the federal poverty level, it is for a household of three, it's like a little bit over $60,000 a year in gross annual income. So that's income prior to taxes being taken out, prior to any kind of deductions for health insurance or anything like that. Um these really are our struggling families. So it's a huge help to them to be able to get free breakfast and lunch at school for their kids.

SPEAKER_00

All right. So my kids, I fill out the form, they get school meals. So they just every day when they arrive at school, they have their meal in their classroom, they go to the cafeteria. How does that work?

SPEAKER_01

It depends on the school, um, depends on the district. Um, that was actually another um advocacy uh ask that we made years ago that um resulted in a bill that um created a breakfast after the bell um requirement for individual schools that have 70% or more of their students eligible for free reduced price meals, that they really are required to provide some sort of breakfast after the bell program. Because we know research has shown that schools that offer breakfast after the bell participation in breakfast is much higher. Because you're really just making breakfast part of the school day, the way that lunch is part of the school day, as opposed to offering it in the cafeteria only at, you know, 7 in the morning, 7.30 in the morning before most of the students are there. So there's different models. One is breakfast, as you mentioned, in the classroom, which is a highly effective model. Um, and we do have many, many schools in New Jersey that are offering that model. Other schools I visited have um these great programs where they have a great grab-and-go kiosk at the point of entry in the school where the kids can come in and grab a breakfast and take it into the classroom. There's also second-chance breakfast. Um, so there's different ways to do breakfast after the bell. It just really depends on what's going to work best for the school and what's really going to reach the maximum number of students with breakfast.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. And then based on what you said earlier, whatever the cost of that is for the school, most of those dollars are reimbursed by the federal government.

SPEAKER_01

Right. So the schools claim the meals, number of breakfasts served, um, and then they still have to do the categories of free, reduced, and paid, because federal reimbursement is based still on those categories. Even though in New Jersey, because of the progress that we've made in terms of public policy here, thankfully, any child that lives in a household with a gross annual income of 224% of the federal poverty level or less, they they get free breakfast to lunch at school. But the schools still have to count the meals based on paid free and reduced because that's how they claim the federal reimbursement based on those federal rates.

SPEAKER_00

So is this a headache for schools, or do schools welcome this program?

SPEAKER_01

I think most schools welcome it. I think it takes, you know, conversations. I remember back in the day and we were partnering with uh ACNJ and having all of our summits and our, you know, our our meetings and convenings of the districts to talk through different ways to implement Breakfast After the Bell. Um and I think once districts started to do it and they saw how helpful it was to the kids, that it really wasn't taking away from instructional time, um, that there wasn't a giant mess to clean up, you know, that this could be a really kind of smooth transition in the morning. Um, I most of the districts I've talked to really like, and I think the primary reason why they like Breakfast After the Bell is because, again, it increases participation and they know that the students then are nourished, they can focus, they can learn. Um again, there's all kinds of research that shows the benefits of kids eating a healthy breakfast. They they are they are you know much more able to focus and learn in school.

SPEAKER_00

So why aren't kids just eating at home? Some kids do.

SPEAKER_01

Um, you know, I think for a lot of parents, working parents, it's really helpful and convenient to know that you can send your child to school and they can start their day with a healthy meal. Um and then of course, we have a lot of parents that for whom it's a financial help, like an enormous financial help, because, you know, having to provide a breakfast and lunch at home every single day or sending the kids with that every single day costs money. Um, and again, we have a lot of struggling working families in New Jersey for whom knowing that their kids can go to school and get healthy breakfast and lunch at school is an enormous help.

SPEAKER_00

Aaron Powell And I agree with you. And I think our kids count data does show that 50% of households are spending more than 30 percent of their income just on rent. So when you can balance and know that the kids will eat at school and save money there, that helps offset the cost of other expenses, right? It's huge. So what do we know? Would I guess I'll put it this way. Would people who are watching this or listening to us today be surprised by the people that don't have the resources to feed their kids every day and really appreciate having meals at school? Is that surprising to people?

SPEAKER_01

I I think the numbers of kids in a wealthy state like New Jersey, I think, does surprise most people when they hear that. I mean, we have over a million people in New Jersey who are food insecure. A quarter of a million of those people are children under the age of 18. Um We have people that experience intermittent food insecurity where they might be doing okay for a while and then something comes up, they lose a job, they're get, you know, reduction in their work hours, whatever, you name it. Um and being able to lean into these programs is a huge help. Um but the these are our working families, you know, um, and so it's just a wonderful support. We uh, you know, do a lot of outreach around school meals. And one of the things that we always say in our outreach is that providing breakfast and lunch at school to kids for free can save a family about $120 a month. And when you look at the cost of utilities these days and gas and rents, like you said, everything, right, is so sky high. To have that extra $120 a month, not only are those kids getting nourished at school, it's also saving the family some money that they can put towards other basic necessities. And so again, it helps it helps the whole household, not just the children.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I totally agree with you. You mentioned food insecure, and that to me is sort of a term that us in the business use. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_01

So food insecure um kind of became the the new buzz uh phrase for hunger um several years back. And it's basically just not having access to adequate healthy food for a healthy active lifestyle. Um and again, sometimes that comes with actual hunger, where people are skipping meals. I mean, I've talked to mothers who say they skip dinner a couple times a week so that there's enough food for their kids to have dinner. Um, it's senior citizens who are choosing between buying medication or buying groceries. Um, you know, it's people making uh, you know, compromised food choices because they have to purchase what's the least expensive and will fill bellies. Um and so we're really talking about also real food security also involves nutrition security, right? Because you want to make sure that the food that that you have for yourself and your family is the healthiest food possible. Um, because we know how diet relates to health. I mean, that's you know very well researched. So it really is about having access to healthy, affordable food, enough food for people to live a healthy, active lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. You mentioned the nutrition, and I know New Jersey, you read about this often, um, the farm to table, and there was farm to schools, like there were a lot of programs where the farming community was trying to provide healthy options for school lunches, maybe, or even just as an experience to teach kids about healthy foods. Do we do a lot of that in this state?

SPEAKER_01

We have a really good farm-to-school program in New Jersey. Um, and I know a lot of individual school districts and schools are doing a lot more over the last 10, 15 years on teaching students where food comes from, um, you know, developing school gardens, community gardens, um, engaging the kids in cooking, engaging the kids in menu planning in the schools. There's a lot more of that that goes on now, certainly a lot more than when I was a kid. Um, so we've seen a real sea change there, which is really exciting, unfortunately. Um there were uh there was a federal program. Um there were two, one was local food to schools and one was local food purchase program, I think was the LFPP was the acronym for that one, which connected, directly connected farmers and local producers to schools and to emergency food providers, so that those healthy proteins and those fresh fruits and veggies were going out through the school districts, we're going out through, you know, to the communities. Unfortunately, um the federal government cut that funding, um, so that program is no longer there. But we do have a good robust um farm-to-school program in New Jersey. And again, it's a win for the kids, it's a win for the families, it's a win for the communities, and it's a win for the farmers.

SPEAKER_00

So if somebody wanted to find out if they had that type of connection in their community, where would they learn about it through the department, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, or where do you find out more information about what might be happening in your community?

SPEAKER_01

Aaron Ross Powell If a school district was interested in learning more about the farm to school program, they would contact the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, the Food and Nutrition Service Um Department, FNS, and they could provide them information with the farm to school program. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

All right. So let's move off of school meals. And early on, you said something about SNAP, which I know is the supplemental nutrition assistance program, or what we used to refer to as food stamps, right? How does that work? Or not work?

SPEAKER_01

Um So SNAP is really the sort of premier anti-hunger program, you know, across the country. Um SNAP is based on income eligibility, right? Um in New Jersey we have it's at about 185% of the federal poverty level, which is good. We have a uh expanded um eligibility for SNAP. Um, but it's not just the the formula for calculating SNAP eligibility is a little more complicated than other, like the school meal applications. So it's based on uh gross annual income, it's based on household size, um there are certain deductions in the application you can take for standard housing, some people can get a utility deduction, and so all of that sort of shakes out into getting somebody to whatever the net income is, so they have to meet that net income requirement in order to get SNAP.

SPEAKER_00

And is that if I want to know if I'm eligible for SNAP, can I go to some website plug-in or do I go to a county office, a state office? Where do I go?

SPEAKER_01

So you could go to the state's website, um the Department of Human Services, Division of Family Development administers SNAP on the state level. Again, but SNAP's a federal program, but um they administer the program on the state level. It's nj.gov, and you can find information on SNAP. There's actually an online application now, so you can go to NJ Helps and complete um a SNAP application all online. Um the SNAP program in New Jersey is actually administered on the county level. Um so the county boards of social services, you can also go into your county board of social services and apply for SNAP. Um so there's a there's a couple different ways to apply.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. And then my sense is whatever funding you get gets put on your EBT card?

SPEAKER_01

Correct. The old EBT, electronic benefits transfer card. Um, so whatever you end up being eligible for, again, base benefit amount would be based on family size and um some other variables. But you would get that benefit amount each month on your card, and then that gives you purchasing power in the community. And you most retailers, you know, major retailers accept SNAP, a lot of farmers' markets accept SNAP. Um, so it's just a wonderful way, again, gives people the ability to choose their food, um, gives people the ability to purchase healthy food items, and also stimulates the economy.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Many people who might be watching or listening today know that the SNAP program has been a the topic discussed. By Congress, et cetera. And so changes are currently being implemented. Do you want to talk about what your understanding of some of those changes are?

SPEAKER_01

Sure. So in July, HR1 was signed into law. And basically it makes cuts and structural changes to SNAP and Medicaid, the likes of which we've really not seen, really unprecedented. One of the things that HR1 did to SNAP in particular is it expanded work requirements for what's called ABODs, again, acronym able-bodied adults without dependents. Now people from 18 to 64 have to meet a pretty stringent work requirement. They have to do 20 hours a week or 80 hours a month of either work, volunteer, or job training in order to keep their benefits. Or if they meet an exemption for physical or mental health reasons that's documented, then they might be able to get an exemption. But if they can't and they and they can't meet the work requirements, then they get a three-month time limit on their SNAP benefits over a three-year period of time. So we will likely see many people lose their benefits. We have no idea what's going to happen in terms of how many people that will be. Others will lose benefits because they won't maybe know what they need to do. And so, you know, they'll just lose their benefits, they'll have to reapply again. So we're deeply concerned about, you know, the impact of that. We're talking about pretty vulnerable populations. There's also no more waivers for most people who are unhoused. Um some of our veterans will also be subject to these ABOD work requirements. Now we have actually ABOD is a misnomer at this point because it's supposed to be with without dependence, um, but now they've implemented a rule under HR 1 that parents and guardians with children 14 years and older are now subject to these expanded work requirements. That's one piece of HR 1. It had a profound impact on a lot of our refugee and asylum communities. Um there's a lot of immigrants with certain statuses that will no longer be able to get uh SNAP, and that was effective immediately upon implementation. And again, I want to be clear that people who are undocumented have never been eligible for SNAP. These are these are folks that have a certain status that they were able to get SNAP benefits, um, and they're they're no longer able to do so in most cases. Um They also removed um use uh utility deduction for SNAP, except for senior seniors and people with disabilities. Um and again, those deductions can can increase benefit amounts a little bit, give that a little extra boost, help the household out. So there's a lot of um changes and it's kind of complicated, you know, but that have been implemented and are are are currently being implemented that you know we're really concerned that we're gonna see a lot of our households either totally lose SNAP benefits or lose a large portion of their SNAP benefits, which again is gonna drive up instances of hunger and food insecurity.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. So just to summarize, my understanding is that SNAP has always had some type of work requirement, but in many instances it was waived, especially in cities or communities where you had a high unemployment benefit. And right now, all that has changed.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, from most of the counties, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And then also where, as you said, it used to be if you had a dependent, your work requirement was waived. Now there's a limit on the age. So if people, if if I'm getting SNAP and I am worried that I might lose my SNAP, where do I find out? Or where can I get clarification on what's my work obligation? I'm thinking I can't just pick up the phone and call Lisa Pitts, which I'm sure you would try to help people, but I'm saying where where should people go to find out?

SPEAKER_01

So they can go to the state's website, um newJersey.gov. Um there's a portal now that folks can sign up for so that they'll get updates sent to them. Um the state is notifying people who will now, you know, fall into this category and be subject to these expanded work requirements and some of the other changes, um, letting people know what they need to do. But people don't always receive the correspondence, or it may not be in the language that they read, or it may, you know, so I I think we want to make sure that we're getting the word out as much as we can. I would encourage all of our community-based partners to try to, you know, let people know what they need to do, but they can certainly go to the state's website. Um if people who are receiving SNAP lose their SNAP benefits or they need some legal assistance with their case, they can go to Legal Services of New Jersey, that's lsnj.org, um, and they can likely get some assistance from LSNJ with their with their SNAP names.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. So it's not hopeless, right? Even though, as you said, it is devastating and it is change, and people don't always adjust to change. But it is possible for people to make sure they do what they need to do to comply with the work requirement. And as you said before, it could be education, it could be job training, it could be community service that people can do your 80 hours a month to comply. Probably for some people, the toughest part is going to be the documentation. Because as I understand it, most people are working, but they might not be working all the time, right? They might have contract work or they might have work and then there's a layoff and then they find other work. And so it's how do you make sure that you're volunteering or do something else in the middle there so you can document your 20 hours a week or 80 hours a month.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And it and it may not, you know, I think there's so many variables involved too when you're looking, you know, when you're talking about folks that are living in areas where there's really like no public transportation, you know, um, getting to and from a location, having sort of this patchwork in place where maybe, you know, someone might try to get 10 hours a week volunteering at a local organization, and then they're working, you know, as a cashier in a store for another like 10 hours a week, right? It's like patching it together, you know, having having to make sure that you have all the sort of infrastructure and supports in place that you can actually make that work, uh, which can be, which can be really challenging. But um, you know, I think the the primary piece of this is trying to just educate people about these changes and letting them know where they can go, what what they need to do, um, what resources they need to connect with to be able to do that so that they can keep their benefits, and then what resources are available to them if for some reason they lose their benefits unjustifiably and they need some assistance.

SPEAKER_00

Aaron Powell Okay. And as you said, Legal Services of New Jersey, which has a main office in Edison, but also has regional offices, do have attorneys who can help or can also provide information, which is really wonderful. Aaron Ross Powell Do you think there's certain populations that are disproportionately impacted by these changes or just by the food insecurity or et cetera?

SPEAKER_01

Aaron Powell Hunger and food insecurity does disproportionately impact people of color, and it does disproportionately impact families with children. Households with children are more likely to experience food insecurity than households without children. But of course, we have a we have a significant problem with hunger and food insecurity amongst our seniors as well.

SPEAKER_00

So I would take from that that to the extent people can reach out to their neighbors and people in their community, there are probably a lot of people who can use help. So people who might lose their benefits may start to then, I guess, reach out to food pantries, community food banks. Is there a network of options for people if, for instance, they lost their benefits? I mean, I'm assuming people are working together to try to make up that difference if possible.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I think there's a lot of coordination happening on the community level. Um I think there is enormous concern amongst many food pantries and emergency food providers that, you know, I mean, I have to say they will never be able to make up for the loss, for a significant loss of SNAP benefits. And so many of the emergency food providers and communities throughout New Jersey are seeing unprecedented amounts of people coming for food assistance, even more so than during the height of the pandemic, which is crazy. Um, but they are, and it's for all the reasons that we've already discussed, you know, the housing prices, gas prices, utility prices, like everybody's really struggling. So there's a saying rent eats first. Got to keep the roof over your head, right? Got to keep the lights on, keep the heat on, put gas in the car so you can get to your job. So that one sort of piece of the household budget that tends to be the first one that gets compromised is the food budget. So people will go to a local pantry and get a couple of bags of groceries to try to get themselves through the week, the rest of the month, whatever it is for people. Um, but I but there are there is a large network of emergency food providers, um, and people are working together to try to try to you know meet some of the increase in demand. But again, they're already seeing you know huge increases in the amount of people coming for help. And I saw a statistic somewhere that said for every meal a food bank provides, Snap provides nine. I think I have that.

SPEAKER_00

Wow. Yeah. Wow. All right. So that's all a little depressing. But it's good people are trying to work on it. What if you, you know, could have a magic wand, what would you like to see have changed in 10 years?

SPEAKER_01

Uh I would love for New Jersey to continue to do what New Jersey has done, really leading the way in many respects, um, in terms of good anti-hunger food security policy. Um again, I think making sure that we have a strong safety net and that we're expanding access to that safety net and not contracting access to that safety net. I would love to see New Jersey be the next state to do school meals for all. There are currently nine states that provide free breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost. Um, it would be wonderful. We've made such great incremental steps towards expanding access to school meals. I'd love to see us as a next step uh, you know, on the road to school meals for all, maybe do, you know, free school breakfast for everybody, I think would be great. That help every kid start their day with a healthy school breakfast at no cost, um, I think would be amazing. I think doing all of these things to expand access to the programs is crucially important while at the same time really expanding the conversation when we talk about food insecurity to really include the root causes and really working together to promote policy both on the state and federal level that addresses some of the root causes of hunger and food insecurity, because that is the way ultimately that we can solve this problem is if we have more affordable housing, if we have living wage work, if we have people with access to affordable health care, right? All all of all of the reasons that drive people to these programs, to the food pantries, right? We really need to start addressing the root causes. So if I had a magic wand, I would wave it and I would address all those systemic uh issues and really, really get to some of the root causes of food insecurity.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Sounds like a utopia world. So while we're we're ch working towards that, we were very focused on the actual school meals, but you mentioned something about a continuum. So what's what's the program at the really early stages? I think WIC is one, right? And is that something that you think helps families as well? But I guess it's infants, right? It's women, infants, and children.

SPEAKER_01

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yep, women, infants, and children, pregnant women, um, postpartum women, and I think children up to the age of five. So that's that's a wonderful start. Um I think we need these safety net programs, to your point, from birth all the way through, right? Um and so WIC is a wonderful start. I I think doing a better job at connecting people with all of the programs they might be eligible for. So you might have a family with a young child who could benefit from WIC, and maybe mom could benefit from WIC. And then that same family may have a school-aged child who could benefit from free breakfast and lunch at school and summer EBT and the summer food service program, right, at their local park or at their at their school in the summertime. And if that child is in an afterschool program, also participate in that program. And then as we see our kids grow and they reach their college years, we know that college hunger is a huge issue, right? We have so many of our students who experience hunger and food insecurity.

SPEAKER_00

But aren't they getting meals at school?

SPEAKER_01

Not always, not necessarily, even especially among our community college students, where they don't really have meal plans, um, nor do most of them have have housing, you know, dormitories or anything like that. So you're really talking about non-traditional students in many, many cases. Um you may have people who are a little older going back to school, trying to work towards a better life for themselves and their families. Um for a number of years, I coordinated a food pantry at a community college. And I would say the majority of people that came in for assistance were more than non-traditional students. When I did have traditional students who were, you know, right out of high school starting their, you know, college uh college education. Sometimes they would come in because their whole family was struggling with hunger, and they would come into the pantry and take food home for everybody in the family. So when we talk about college hunger, it's not just an individual individual student who maybe doesn't have a meal plan. And, you know, you're talking about first generation, you know, people, first person in their family to go to college, talking about entire families who are struggling. I always say that for a lot of the community college students who I've met who experience hunger and food insecurity, these were the kids that were getting free and reduced price meals in school, right? And then they graduate after 12th, 12th grade and they go into college and they still need that nutrition assistance, but there really isn't a program for them. We see more and more food pantries popping up on college campuses. As a matter of fact, I I'd I'd be hard pressed to think of a of a of a college of two or four year that doesn't have some sort of food pantry. Um we actually coordinate the Hunger Free Campus Network, which is a coalition of two and four-year uh colleges and universities, and we that's the whole focus is on college hunger and how people can work together to bring resources to the students and where there are opportunities for advocacy to address college hunger.

SPEAKER_00

What kind of numbers of young people are being served by those food pantries? Do you have any sense of that?

SPEAKER_01

I don't have any hard data right in, you know, right in front of me, but um I know from what I hear in our meetings that with each semester, those food pantries are seeing more and more students come for assistance. And so they've been really creative. Um, and again, it's it's not just the community colleges, it's the four-year colleges as well. Because again, not all those students have meal plans. Some of those students are commuters. They're not, you know, they're not maybe even enrolled full-time in some cases. Um so, but almost without exception, you know, the folks, the good folks that are running those college-based food pantries say with each semester. They're seeing more and more students coming. Some of them are now providing, you know, prepared meals for the students. They're providing vouchers so that the students can go into the cafeteria and and purchase something to eat, you know, once a day, if they're there all day. Um they're running the food pantries, they're, you know, they're getting fresh produce in. They're, you know, so there's all kinds of programs and some interesting innovative ways that the schools have really committed to helping the students. Because again, it's this, it's the same as a younger child. If somebody's stomach is growling, if they haven't had anything to eat since the day prior, and they're trying to get a college education to better their life, and they're trying to focus and study and learn, it's going to be an enormous challenge if if they don't have access to nutritious food. So again, it's it all these things are investments, right? Investing in our younger children, investing in our school-aged children, investing in our college students, right? Because ultimately that benefits all of us as a society when people are nourished and they're able to achieve and succeed.

SPEAKER_00

You have an amazing amount of passion for this, which I really commend you. How do other people who might have the same passion, how could they get involved? If I wanted to go to a county college, could I offer to make a contribution? Could I donate food? Do you have any sense of how people could learn more about that?

SPEAKER_01

Sure. I mean, I think community-based pantries, college-based pantries, there's a lot of actually schools now, elementary schools, high schools that have pantries. I think anybody that's connected to any of those places in the community, you can certainly reach out and see if they would accept donations. I think everybody would be happy to have donations, uh, not just food donations, but monetary donations. Um they can leverage those to actually get more uh, you know, they have more purchasing power and can you and can use those monetary donations to generate even more resources. Um and I think the other thing, because as an advocate, I would be remiss if I didn't say this, is that I think sometimes when people think about hunger and food insecurity, they automatically think about volunteering and making making donations, having food drives, which they should, right? If everybody did that, there'd be a lot more resources available in the community. However, I think that when we talk about hunger and food insecurity, we all need to think of ourselves as advocates, not just the people that do it for a living. Um, but everybody has a voice to lend to this issue. I mean, food is a basic human need. We are the wealthiest country. We're in one of the wealthiest states and the wealthiest country. We should not have kids that go to bed hungry at night. We should not have senior citizens choosing between whether or not they can get their medicine or they can get dinner, right? We should not have our college students dropping out of college because they they can't afford to be there, but they can't afford to feed themselves, right? So again, it benefits all of us to be engaged in this issue and to lend our voices on every local, state, federal level to protect our safety net programs. And again, to to really, really advocate for responsible public policy that addresses hunger and food insecurity, amongst other social issues.

SPEAKER_00

So true. Can people become an advocate through Hunger Free New Jersey? Sure. How do they do that?

SPEAKER_01

We'd love, we'd love to. The more voices, the better. Um they can go to our website. Uh it's hungerfreenj.org. Um, we have a thing on there that allows people to sign up for our newsletter so people can stay engaged. Uh, we frequently will send out alerts um as to different things that are going on that people can speak out either against if it's bad policy or in favor of if it's good policy. Um and yeah, we we we welcome everybody to to be part of this and to lend their voice to this critically important issue.

SPEAKER_00

All right. Is there anything else you want to share today, or one final message you want to share with our audience today?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I would say that I I I feel like there's so many. Issues going on, right? And some of this stuff feels so insurmountable. And I think what keeps me at this is that I really do believe in my heart that this is a solvable problem, right? If we have the commitment and make the investments, right, and people speak out, right? Um, I I think we can solve this problem. I think we can make sure, and it's not just about filling bellies. I think we can make sure that our kids and our college students and our seniors and our and our neighbors with disabilities and and everybody has access to the healthy, nutritious food they need to learn, grow, and thrive. Because that's that's what we all want for ourselves, and that's what we should want for each other. So I believe that.

SPEAKER_00

And individuals can certainly make a difference, right? Absolutely. All right. Thank you so much, Lisa. This has really been helpful, both in terms of information and letting people know what they can do.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00

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