Although about 61,000 Hawaiʻi students participated in the National School Lunch Program in the 2016-17 school year, only 5,800 received a summer meal in July 2017, according to a study released Wednesday by the Food Research & Action Center.

That’s fewer than one in 10 eligible students reached in the summer, which places Hawaiʻi toward the bottom of states nationwide—41st—when it comes to feeding summer meals to kids.

It’s harder to feed them during the summer because they aren’t already clustered in one place and staffing is low, according to Nicole Woo, senior policy analyst for the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice.

“It’s a much more complicated program that takes a lot more coordination and community partnerships,” she said.

Serving summer meals helps combat what’s known as the “summer slide”—the learning loss that occurs when students are out of school for a long stretch of time. Studies show this learning loss disproportionately affects low-income students, widening the achievement gap.

Kids congregating over a summer meal—whether at a school or a community center—are in an interactive environment that helps them, according to Woo of Hawaiʻi Appleseed.

“It doesn’t have to be academic programming to help slow down that summer slide, but almost any enrichment activity: parks or recreation, a cultural activity, anything that keeps them engaged and stimulated,” she said. “That’s where summer meals fits in—to bring kids into these programs.”