By Alyssa Riley
In the massive industrial kitchen of the Fayetteville High School cafeteria, the lunch ladies were preparing fried-chicken sandwiches, salad bars, and a build-your-own-club station for the upcoming lunch service. “The nacho cheese looks much better today,” said Vanessa Eckert, 67, manager of the Meal Pack Program at FHS. Inside the walk-in freezer on sturdy metal shelving sat box upon box of pre-made packs for remote students, soon to be carted off to the west side of campus for pick-up. Inside each plastic bag was enough food for an entire week for one student.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2019, families, school employees and child-hunger advocates worried that quarantine and virtual learning would skyrocket the already-high rates of hungry students in Arkansas, according to 38-year-old Allyson Mrachek, the director of child nutrition at Fayetteville High School.
Club sandwich bar being prepared by a lunch lady in the FHS cafeteria kitchen, March 14, 2022, by Alyssa Riley.
Ranking 4th in the nation in child food insecurity, Arkansas’ problem would only worsen as acquiring meals at school, which was already difficult for many students, would no longer be an option, according to Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance.
“One of the most positive things I’ve seen come out of the pandemic is the USDA issued waivers that allowed flexibility in the ways schools offered meals to kids,” said Patty Barker, 64, campaign director of No Kid Hungry at Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. “So, if you’re a child and you’re relying heavily on that free breakfast and lunch at school, and then suddenly your school shuts down due to COVID, well, what is happening with your meal?”
About 167,440 children in the state face hunger every year, and even with programs like WIC, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, and SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, 25% were likely ineligible to gain food assistance in 2019.
To alleviate this looming problem, Congress gave the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, the authority to issue Child Nutrition COVID-19 Waivers for the 2019-2020 school year.
Put in place to ensure a successful school year, the waivers increased funding, support access, and operational needs to provide free nutritious meals for remote learning, outside of regular breakfast and lunchtimes and during summer vacation. Therefore, the USDA extended them through the 2020-2021 term.
Through the waivers, the USDA gives 25 cents more for each lunch and 14 cents more for breakfast, providing $750 million for school meals across the country.
In the Fayetteville school district, 200 to 250 students are learning virtually this year and 40 are enrolled in the Meal Pack Program. Numbers for school-eaten meals have skyrocketed by about 1,000 lunches and 200 breakfasts a day.
“It’s been wonderful for our program and for families,” Mrachek said.
Vanessa Eckert, Meal Pack Program manager, shows the meal packs with different options in the freezer of the FHS Cafeteria, March 14, 2022, by Alyssa Riley.
“Last summer we did about 150-170 meals a week which included five lunches and five breakfast’s in the packs,” Eckert said, who spends at least 12 hours a week planning and preparing the meal packs that range from gluten-free, vegetarian, pork-free and dairy-free.
Because schools are allowed to serve meals – regardless of income level – 100% free of charge for students both on and off-campus, participation in school-eaten meals has risen exponentially, Mrachek said.
“Arkansas was actually doing very well compared to other states,” Barker said. “The department reported that 90% of Arkansas school districts, right after the pandemic hit, were able to offer meals in some way.”
While child food insecurity seems to be lessening in Arkansas, all 29 waivers and flexibilities implemented by the USDA will end starting July 30 through Sept. 30, 2022 – 90 days after the national public health emergency lifts and right in time for next school year.
“Everyone is quite up and arms about it ending June 30; one because, you know, families and programs are still rebuilding,” Mrachek said. “If you end the waivers it doesn’t mean the problems go away, and we really do need them extended all the way through the end of next summer, not just till June 30.”
The summer season is the most crucial time to provide children with meals because without the Seamless Summer Option Waiver, which allows meals to be provided outside of school days, attaining them becomes less obtainable again.
“We would be transitioning back to serving one lunch and one breakfast a day, and they have to come back two different times, so our numbers would drop drastically,” Mrachek said.
Even as the expiration dates approach, along with the threat of a spike in child hunger, hope is not yet lost. Groups like the School Nutrition Association and the Dietetic Association are advocating for the waivers to extend.
Additionally, northwest Arkansas alone provides eight food banks and community resource centers, so if the waivers are not extended through the 2023 summer, these community services will remain an option for those in need.
Fayetteville schools partner with several community programs with the help of the waivers, including the Outback Program with Life Source International – a local food bank, clothing closet, and after-school kids’ program that works to lessen child hunger in northwest Arkansas – where they offer staple food items every morning from 8:00 to 11:30 that school is in session.
Life Source International’s weathered street sign in the parking lot, March 10, 2022, by Alyssa Riley.
“The kids aren’t able to eat enough at home,” said Jimmie Conduff, 41, executive director at Life Source International. “So, they’re getting to school and they’ve not had dinner at all, so the only meals they’re getting are at school.”
Having the increase in funding from the USDA and, “Everyone eating for free has brought a lot of good revenue into our program so that we can rebuild, we can improve, and we can do the right thing for kids,” Mrachek said. “We’re serving them better food and pay our staff better so they’re making a living wage; it’s essential.”
Without the extension, it will not only be kids who suffer from the lack of flexibility and free meals but school nutrition, after-school and summer programs, and school district employees as well.
“We’re arguing that don’t just discontinue things that have worked just because we want to get back to normal,” Barker said. “And, again, the reason we’re arguing for those flexibilities to continue to the next school year is because it takes a while to get back to normal.”