Pallone Highlights Importance of Summer Meals Programs in Edison

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 19, 2016


NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Today, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ 06), visited the Kiddie Keep Well Camp in Edison, NJ to highlight the importance of federal food aid, including critical summer meals programs. Lisa Pitz, Program Director of Advocacy, Outreach & Education, NJ Anti-Hunger Coalition also joined Pallone at the camp.

National summer meals programs, provided through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program, were created forty years ago to help vulnerable students get nourishment when school is out of session. Under the current program, federally reimbursed meals are available to kids at sites around the country, including schools, faith-based programs and community centers. According to the latest USDA data, 15.8 million children live in households facing a constant struggle against hunger. On an average day during last school year, a record 21.7 million low-income children received free or reduced-price lunches. In New Jersey over 400,000 children qualify for free or reduced price lunch.

Congressman Pallone discussed the importance of reauthorizing child nutrition programs under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which expired in September 2015. While summer meal programs continue, he stressed the need to make sure the programs are funded and reach those that are most in need.

“Hunger doesn’t take a vacation. The summer food program ensures that when schools let out for summer break, millions of low-income children do not lose access to the school breakfasts and lunches they rely on,” said Congressman Pallone. “I will continue the fight in Congress for needed funding for child nutrition and school meal programs – we owe it to our country’s most important resource, our children.”

The Kiddie Keep Well Camp is dedicated to providing summertime fun and enjoyment to the less privileged children of Middlesex County. Each summer the camp accepts about six hundred children, ages 7-15, from an applicant pool of 800 to 1000 children for one of four 11-day sessions at no cost to the families. The camp asks school nurses to recommend students to the camp, and also receives referrals from guidance counselors, principals and the New Jersey Department of Youth and Family Services.

"No Warrants Shall Issue, but Upon Probable Cause..."

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

Earlier this week the House passed the so-called USA Freedom Act under the guise of reforming the NSA to prevent surveillance of innocent Americans. As I said on the House floor in opposition to the bill, it does no such thing.

The bill still allows the government to collect everything they want against Americans – to treat Americans as suspects first and citizens second. It still allows decisions about whom to target, and how aggressively to go after acquaintances of acquaintances of targets, to be made by mid-level employees, not federal judges.



Most important, the fundamental decisions under this will be made by a weak, inferior standard that does not reach the constitutionally required standard of probable cause, so that the government can spy on people based on weak suspicions.

In voting for the bill, some of my colleagues said, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” The perfect? How could any member of Congress vote for legislation that doesn’t uphold the constitutional standard of probable cause?

School Lunches After School Lets Out

About 480,000 New Jersey students from low and moderate-income families are eligible for free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunch at their schools. But as schools let out for the summer, many families will lose access to this key source of nutritional and financial support.

Fortunately, federally funded summer meal programs can help provide healthy meals to students throughout the year. In 2010 I helped write the law that increased funding for Summer Food Support grants, which help establish or grow summer meal programs. For a list of sites near you, visit nokidhungry.org/summersites or text “FOOD” to 877-877.

Left Behind

“Take the current expansion, which began in the second half of 2009. Gross domestic product is up 11 percent since then, corporate profits are up about 50 percent, and equity markets are up 80 percent. But both median and low incomes are down about 5 percent.” – Jared Bernstein, former chief economist to Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress