From the Arkansas Advocate:
By July 10, most children in Arkansas will be well into their second month of summer break with five weeks of sunny, schoolless days under their belts, but some children will have spent those weeks without a reliable source of food.
Arkansas has one of the highest food insecurity rates in the nation and is one of only a few southern states that opted into a new summer food aid program, but the state Department of Human Services won’t get cards to participants until the second week of July.
Three dozen states are participating in a new federal food assistance program called the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer, or Summer EBT. The program is modeled off a similar service implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Food program won’t benefit eligible Arkansas children until midsummer
Fred Miller/UA System Division Of Agriculture
Ashley Appel stocks the Appel Farms Store with fresh produce from the farm she operates with her husband, Travis, near Elm Springs.