My Turn: Andrew Schiff: Increase SNAP benefits to end child hunger amid pandemic

As the COVID-19 emergency ruptures the American economy, it is setting off a tidal wave of food insecurity and hunger. A national survey conducted by the Brookings Institution last month found that 40% of households with children under age 12 could not afford adequate food. According to the researchers, “Young children are experiencing food insecurity to an extent unprecedented in modern times.”

Now is the moment to increase benefits to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to ensure that children and their families have enough food to eat during this crisis and long after it.

To understand how things got so bad so fast, we must remember where we began. Before COVID-19, 11% of households in America, and in Rhode Island, were already food insecure.

In 2019, 53,000 Rhode Islanders were served monthly at food pantries and meal programs; one-third were households with children. The vast majority were enrolled in SNAP but their limited benefits were often exhausted before the end of the month.

When COVID-19 closed businesses, thousands of low-wage earners were suddenly without a paycheck. Many quickly exhausted any savings, ran out of money, ran out of food and joined the lines at food pantries.

When COVID-19 closed schools, low-income families suffered another tremendous blow. On a normal school day, Rhode Island schools serve 30,000 free breakfast meals and 50,000 free lunches. Overnight, those meals were gone.

In response, Rhode Island mobilized to feed hungry children. School districts replaced school breakfast and lunch with “Grab and Go” meals that parents pick up. The Rhode Island Department of Human Services implemented the federal Pandemic-EBT program, giving $5.70 per child for each day that schools are closed to parents of students who receive free or reduced-price lunch. The Food Bank distributed 10,000 Meals4Kids boxes, each containing a week's worth of kid-friendly meals, to families at food pantries.

Although necessary in this crisis, these are short-term measures that are scheduled to end in the coming weeks. But we need long-term, sustainable solutions to the growing problem of hunger.

During the Great Recession, the Obama administration temporarily raised SNAP benefit levels, which led to a significant decrease in food insecurity. Congress should include a similar boost to SNAP benefits — 15% — in its next COVID-19 response bill. We can all urge Rhode Island's congressional delegation to support this modest increase.

When it comes to child hunger, we don't have to wait for a vaccine. SNAP prevents hunger and improves nutrition. As the need for food assistance reaches record levels, we must act to strengthen SNAP so that all families can afford to feed their children.

Andrew Schiff is CEO of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.