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Military families sacrifice enough. They shouldn't go hungry too.
- Mar 1, 2017
- 4 min read
Not Everyone is So Lucky
Millions of children don’t get to make that choice. Millions of kids might only get to eat one or two meals during the weekdays. That’s because millions of children are enrolled in the free or reduced lunch program.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2010-2011 over 23.5 million children were eligible for free or reduced price lunch. This number reflects 48.1% of the total students enrolled in public schools that year. This is the most recent year for which these numbers were available.
What is not known is just how many of those 23.5 million children are in military families. The Department of Defense does not currently track these numbers for all their families. However the Department of Defense Education Action (DoDEA) schools reported that of the 23,000 students enrolled in their schools in 2015, 24% of children are eligible for free lunch and another 21% are eligible for reduced price lunches.
But not every base has DoDEA schools. And not every military child at bases with DoDEA schools attends the on-base schools. That means that there may be thousands of other military connected children who are receiving free or reduced price school lunches.
Great, but why is this important?
Here’s why: thousands of military connected children (and that’s just the active duty connected kids going to DoDEA schools) are in families with incomes so low that they qualify for free/reduced lunch. It means that we have military families who cannot afford to buy their kids lunches. It means that there are military children who are living in potentially food insecure homes.
What does it mean to be food insecure?
Essentially, it means that families are not able to buy a wide variety of foods in the quantities needed to feed their families. So families might be able to buy enough food to feed their families, but that food is low quality or heavily processed. No fresh fruits or veggies on a regular basis, or lots of macaroni and cheese. Or families might not be able to afford enough food to totally feed themselves. It could mean skipping meals for one or more people in a family.
Beyond school lunches
School lunches are just one symptom of a bigger issue. Thousands of military families are using food supplement programs, like WIC and SNAP, as well as food pantries.
The US Department of Agriculture statistics for 2014 indicated that there were 190 commissaries authorized to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Over $84 million dollars were spent at commissaries during the reporting period, accounting for 0.12% of total SNAP spending. While we have the raw data, the actual numbers of military personnel using food supplement programs is a best guess, according to a 2015 story by Marketplace. The USDA estimates that between 2,000 and 23,000 military personnel use food programs.
This data shows that between 1 and 2 percent of military personnel are not able to meet their food needs on their military salary.
Veterans Have Needs Too
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, approximately 1.7 million military veterans used SNAP or other food supplement programs in 2014. This amounts for 0.07% of all US military veterans, as of 2014 statistics. There are approximately 21.8 million military veterans in the US.
This means that not only are many thousands of active duty troops facing food insecurity, but so are military veterans. These numbers account for just the individual veterans and currently serving troops. It doesn’t show their spouses or children.
It’s Not OK
It’s not okay that we have military personnel who are unable to put enough food on their tables. The people who are defending our freedoms at home can’t feed themselves on what they are being paid.
Junior enlisted personnel often earn less than $2000 per month, before their housing allowance is factored in. When a military member gets married or adds children to their family, that paycheck can be stretched very thin.
Even more so because military spouses have a hard time finding and keeping a job due to frequent moves.
It’s not okay that our veterans are struggling to put afford to eat. These men and women sacrificed years of their lives, and possibly limbs or mental health, to protect us. And now they are hungry. Their spouses and children are hungry.
What You Can Do
Military pay and benefits is decided yearly by Congress, and signed into action by the President. A great starting point would be to lobby Congress to consider a larger pay raise for 2018. You can write or call your Senators and Representatives.
Another great step would be to support action requiring the DoD to actually track the numbers of military personnel who use SNAP or other food benefits. Having this data could help to drive changes in military compensation, benefits and awareness of the issue. Contacting your Senators or Representatives to advocate for this would be a great first step.
Finally, support food pantries in military communities
or near Guard or Reserve posts. By having well stocked options available, military families will be better able to provide for their families.
Meg Flanagan M.Ed and K.O.A.H. Military Education Specialist
I'm a teacher, blogger, writer, runner, mother, and military spouse. I am passionate about helping ALL children learn, offering tips to guide parents through the K-12 education world, and providing useful advice to teachers of all ages and stages.
Visit Meg's Blog at MilKidsEd.com
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