Possible Cuts to School Lunch Program Spur Urgent Calls for Unified Food Aid Response in the Virgin Islands

A thought that federally funded school lunch programs may be next on the chopping block after SNAP benefits prompted calls for community action on food aid distribution from members of the Virgin Islands Continuum of Care on Homelessness. 

The prospect of the ongoing federal government shutdown affecting school lunch was raised by Cira Burke from the V.I. Department of Human Services, who said that she was recently in contact with education officials who discussed the possibility. “This is very disheartening because we who live in this community understand that school lunch, many times, is pretty much the only meal that a lot of our children get,” she noted. “If it's something that is being discussed…we have to prepare ourselves for that,” she suggested.

CoC Secretary Suzanne Magras agreed. “This has really been weighing heavily on my mind,” she said. Noting that at least one church is currently sponsoring a food drive, with efforts by a grassroots collective to do the same. With government officials already advising food benefit recipients to “really stretch their dollars” due to the lack of federal funding for SNAP, she was anxious to find out whether there were any efforts for food aid distribution from the private sector or private citizens, particularly on St. Thomas.   READ MORE....https://viconsortium.com/vi-community_center/possible-cuts-to-school-lunch-program-spur-urgent-calls-for-unified-food-aid-response-in-the-virgin-islands