Al Lawson introduces bill to fight college hunger
A food pantry at Florida A&M University hands out nearly 5,000 pounds of fruits, vegetables, milk and bread to low income students every week. Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College also operate food pantries for students.
Congressman Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, supports those efforts, but thinks there is a better way to address the campus hunger problem. Lawson wants to open the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP to feed college students from low-income families. At FAMU alone, his proposal would qualify more than 6,500 students who receive a Pell Grant for the government’s main hunger fighting program.
“The significant increase in college tuition over the last decade has forced students to make a choice between buying food or paying for books and housing expenditures,” said Lawson.
A USDA study estimates there are nearly 2 million students nationwide who wrestle with food insecurity — a lack of money to buy enough food for an “active and healthy life.”
Lawson has teamed up with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, to write The College Student Hunger Act of 2019. Florida congressmen Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miami, and Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, have endorsed the proposal along with Democrat Squad of 4-member Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
Amid classes and part-time jobs, the students squeeze in a weekly visit to the food pantry every Thursday. They trudge down FAMU hill to a health clinic on the eastern edge of campus, where alumni and staff from First Harvest and Earth Fare Natural Foods hand out donated produce, meats, canned goods, and bread from Panera’s.
MAZON, along with children advocacy groups and student-based organizations from California to New York, have endorsed the Lawson-Warren proposal.
In addition to Pell Grant recipients, the College Student Hunger Act would also qualify students who are military veterans, homeless and foster children for SNAP benefits.
By: James Call
Source: Tallahassee Democrat
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