DOE closing some food sites, advocates concerned that community help may not be enough

Hawaiʻi public schools ended the academic year last week after completing months of distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hawaiʻi State Department of Education (DOE) estimated that it has served about 23,500 meals a day at 74 schools across the state.

However, beginning in the summer, the number of sites drops to 51 schools, while some are also transitioning to lunch-only service.

The 51 sites represent a decrease from the 71 food sites offered last summer.

Nicole Woo, senior policy analyst with the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Economic Law & Justice, an advocacy nonprofit, worries that other community groups may not be around this summer to pick up the slack.

“There are some summer service programs that are going to be serving kids, but we have heard that some have decided they’re not going to come back this summer,” she said. “There might be fears about safety due to the virus, they’re not having their summer program, or they just are struggling in the pandemic just to have their operations running at all . . . right now the community is struggling just as much as the schools are.”

Woo explained that during the normal school year, about 60,000 to 65,000 students receive free or reduced lunch. She suspects that number will grow due to the financial impacts on families of COVID-19.