“Tens of thousands of Montgomery County residents are hungry and don’t know when they will have their next meal,” according to Councilmember Will Jawando.
“It’s just unjust, and it’s wrong.” he said during a panel discussion on childhood hunger that was hold Monday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The event was sponsored by Manna Food Center and the City of Gaithersburg and held at the Robertson Park Youth Center.
Jennifer Rodriguez told the panelist she relies on churches, Manna, Gaithersburg and the Montgomery County Public Schools to help feed her three children.
Because she must stay home with her youngest child, the family relies on her husband to earn enough money to pay rent and handle their basic needs. It’s often a struggle, she said through an interpreter.
43% of MCPS students qualify for Free and Reduced Meals, and that number is “slowly creeping up,” noted Board of Education Member Julie Yang.
Many students receive free breakfasts and lunches, and some are provided with weekend food packages thanks to the school district, area food banks and funds from the county.
“Are we doing enough? Is there more we can do?” Yang asked. Because the need is so great, more partnerships must be created to help struggling families, she said.
MCPS has about $700,000 in unsettled food accounts from those who don’t have enough money to keep up with their child’s school lunch costs, Yang said.
Besides the county children who qualify for food assistance, another 76,000 residents don’t have enough money to meet their family’s basic needs but earn too much to qualify for relief programs, according to U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who addressed the gathering on video.
“Food insecurity in our community is on the rise,” said Heather Bruskin, director of the county’s Food Systems Resilience office. “We need to make sure we are doing more with less,” due to cutbacks in government grants that were readily available during the pandemic.
With the assistance of Gov. Wes Moore, Maryland is striving to end childhood hunger, reduce childcare costs and help tenants who fall behind in their rent, said Delegate Julie Palakovich Carr (D-17).
But there is still more to be done, she said, adding, “Hungry kids are not going to learn well.”
Both Jawando and Palakovich Carr talked about the need to add brackets to the county’s income tax rate, which currently is a flat rate of 3.2%.
If that rate is jumped to $3.7% for Montgomery County residents who earn more than $1 million a year, that would generate tens of millions of dollars annually that could be used to tackle these issues, Jawando said.
As the event drew to a close, Jackie DeCarlo, Manna executive director, urged everyone to host dinners with their neighbors and be snack parents for children’s activities.
“I am asking you to get out of your comfort zone.”
During the roundtable discussion, Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman and some members of council presented a proclamation to Manna.
Panelists discuss childhood hunger in Montgomery County on MLK Jr
Day @mymcmedia @MannaFoodCenter pic.twitter.com/bcqEgmPmEq— suzanne pollak (@SuzannePollak) January 15, 2024
