Local hunger coalition announces aim to feed needy children this Summer

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – School age children throughout Lee County who get free lunches during the school year won’t go hungry this summer.

The Tupelo  Lee Hunger Coalition announced that it was going to help provide food to 600 students in Tupelo, Lee and Baldwyn schools throughout the summer.

Sixty four percent of students in those areas get free or reduced lunches at school, and they also benefit from a “back pack” feeding program on weekends.

The initiative will help make sure students don’t go hungry during summer break.

“There’s nearly twenty percent of the population in Lee County that is going food insecure, that means they’re making the tough decision about buying medicine, buying food or being able to pay for their utilities,  and so we don’t want that to happen, we want to be a stop-gap to help that process go smoother for them.  We know if the kids are fed and not hungry they will be able to learn better and be in a better place when school starts back up in august,” said Jason Martin, of the Tupelo-Lee Hunger Coalition.

The Tupelo Lee Hunger Coalition also donated $25,000 to the Mid South Food Bank, which helps feed hungry people throughout Northeast Mississippi.