As WashU students, especially for those of us that come from privileged backgrounds, it may be easy to forget the extent of food insecurity beyond the boundaries of our campus. Most of us are covered by some kind of meal plan, either by our families or the Uuniversity. There’s usually a friend with extra meal points or an event with free food to turn to when our own meal points are running low. We may not realize that in our state, over 240,000 children are food insecure. Over 55,000 of those kids are in St. Louis City and County alone. As college students, we know how important it is to be able to eat at school — focusing in class is really difficult if you’re hungry. 

This is a pervasive problem across the U.S., as roughly 1 in 7 households and nearly 1 in 5 children experience food insecurity. That means an estimated 13.8 million children in this country don’t have access to enough food and/or adequate nutrition. 

These numbers are striking for a few reasons. First, statistically speaking, it means we might all know families who experience food insecurity. However, these issues plague some groups of people more than others. People of color, as well as people who are low-income or live in food deserts, are more likely to experience food insecurity. It’s alarming how high these numbers are despite the fact that the U.S. has enough food for every single person to eat over 3,800 calories per day. Food insecurity isn’t about a lack of abundance — it’s about a lack of access. 

I became passionate about improving food security because I was appalled by these statistics. How can a country that produces so much food leave 47 million Americans food insecure? I started working with Empower Missouri, a statewide nonprofit working to end poverty, so that I could be a part of ensuring that every Missourian is food secure. After working with them, I have some tangible ways you can help build a future where everyone has enough to eat, all of which are explained in this article.

Food insecurity is the result of systemic poverty. While that’s a deep-rooted issue, part of the solution is making school meals more accessible by eliminating the reduced-price meal copay. 

In Missouri, schoolchildren are eligible for free or reduced-price meals based on their families’ incomes. Children from families making 130% or less of the federal poverty level eat for free, and those with household incomes between 130% and 185% of the federal poverty level pay a reduced fee for lunch. While this can alleviate the pressure of paying for school meals, the reduced-price meal copay is still a financial burden for some low-income families. Eliminating the copay could make it so more kids eat at school and benefit from the positive effects of school meals. 

If we ensure that more kids can eat at school, we’ll give them a better chance at academic and professional success — something we all value at WashU — while combatting poverty at the same time. 

Making more school meals free makes life better for our students and our state. More kids can eat high nutritional quality meals, and test scores and attendance increase. Lifetime earnings increase too, especially for children from low-income households. And for every dollar spent on school meal programs, we see two dollars back in economic benefits. When we feed kids at school, everybody wins.

Recent changes to federal nutrition and health assistance programs are making food less accessible for many families. When fewer children are enrolled in programs like SNAP and Medicaid, fewer are automatically certified for free school meals. That also means fewer schools qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows schools with higher numbers of low-income students to serve meals to all students at no cost. As a result, many children who once received free meals will now have to pay reduced-price copays, or even go without a meal. 

At a time when families are losing access to vital nutrition support, Missouri should step up to ensure that every child can eat at school. Eliminating the reduced-price meal copay is a simple, effective step we can take right now to protect kids from hunger and strengthen our communities. 

If you want to be a part of the change, write a letter to the editor for a local newspaper. In my work with Empower Missouri, I’ve put together a guide at this link, complete with statistics, news outlets, and inspiration to help you write your letter. Tell Missourians to contact their legislators about sponsoring a bill to eliminate the reduced-price meal copay. And then, contact our legislators yourself using this call script.

Our legislators need to hear from students like you who can speak to the importance of school meals. Multiple bills have been filed for the next legislative session to eliminate the reduced-price meal copay, and our legislators need to hear that you want these passed. Even if you can’t write a letter, you can help increase food security across Missouri by calling and emailing your legislators, volunteering at local food banks or with WashU’s Food Recovery Network, and telling your friends and family to do the same. 

One of my favorite things about coming to WashU has been learning that everyone is passionate about something. If we channel that passion into action, we can drive real, positive change for students across our state.