"We applaud Governor Hogan for a budget that would help more kids get the nutrition they need to grow up healthy and strong," said Holmes.
Contact: Christy Felling, cfelling@strength.org
ANNAPOLIS - Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's new budget plan, announced this week, contains funding that would help thousands of children at risk of hunger across the state, including an expansion of a program to help feed kids during the summer. The following is a statement from No Kid Hungry Maryland Director Ayesha Holmes.
"The pandemic caused an economic crisis in Maryland as well as a health one, leaving thousands of children across the state facing hunger. Making sure families have the food they need is an essential part of recovery and today we applaud Governor Hogan for focusing on programs that can help kids get more of the nutrition they need.
"One of these programs is Summer SNAP, which is modeled after the national Summer EBT pilot program and provides an additional grocery benefit for food to low-income families during the summer months. Governor Hogan's budget would expand the program to provide benefits for more than 50,000 children, helping them to get the nutrition they need during the summer when schools are closed and school meals are unavailable.
"The governor's budget also provides additional SNAP grocery benefits for more than 390,000 households during the year, increases the minimum SNAP benefit for seniors and provides funding for local food banks. Taken together, these efforts will bring much-needed relief to families and help ensure that children in our state have more of the nourishment they need to grow up healthy, educated and strong."
###
About No Kid Hungry
No child should go hungry in America. But in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, 1 in 6 kids could face hunger this year. No Kid Hungry is working to end childhood hunger by helping launch and improve programs that give all kids the healthy food they need to thrive. This is a problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization committed to ending hunger and poverty.
8.7.3