ALFRED — Many people think of summer as a time to relax, go camping and have fun. But summer is the time of year when needy children are most likely to go hungry, because they aren’t getting the free or reduced lunch that they receive during the school year from the National School Lunch Program.

This is one of the messages that Kevin Concannon, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, told a crowd of people Thursday morning in the dining hall at York County Shelter Programs, in a meeting with Partners for a Hunger-Free York County.

Concannon visited Portland Wednesday, then York County on Thursday to see what work is being done locally to combat hunger and to promote the Summer Food Service Program.

During the winter, 21 million children receive free or reduced lunch through the National School Lunch Program. During the summer, about 3 million children receive meals through the summer program.

That’s a significant gap, said Concannon.

“It’s a huge problem for us,” he said. Concannon said officials will work with community groups, local recreation programs, church groups and other organizations to increase the number of summer food program sites and access.

Concannon gave an overview of some of the programs offered by the USDA, and also highlighted some of the ways the USDA is improving nutrition. Requirements for school lunches have been changed to provide healthier meals, including requiring fruits and vegetables to be offered every day, increasing whole grains and requiring milk to be low fat or fat free, he said.

Also, canned foods through The Emergency Food Assistance Program have less sodium, canned fruits are in light syrup, and cheeses are low fat.

Concannon said that work is being done to increase access to technology at farmer’s markets so people using SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, can use their benefits to purchase food at those markets.

Concannon also fielded questions from audience members.

Don Bisson, manager of the Friends of Community Action Food Pantry in Biddeford, said the pantry receives food from the Good Shepherd Food Bank every two weeks, and every time they go there to pick up food, there is less and less available. 

“It’s very frightening,” he said.

Concannon said there’s been “a perfect storm” of events. Temporary stimulus money has dried up; supermarkets that donate to food banks have become more efficient and have fewer damaged goods to donate; and the Federal Food Distribution Program does not have as much food to provide.

Through the Federal Food Distribution Program, introduced during the Great Depression, the United States Department of Agriculture buys food from sectors of agriculture that are hurting, and in the past few years, the USDA hasn’t had the authority to purchase as much because the agricultural world does not need the bolstering that it did in the past.

Concannon once served as the director of Health and Human Services in Maine.

Don Gean, executive director of York County Shelter Programs, recalled a time in the 1980s when he and a group staged a protest at Concannon’s office regarding cutbacks in food stamps. Gean said that Concannon set up a workshop to talk to the group, and  worked to get Sanford to become the second community in the nation, due to high poverty numbers and low employment rates, to get a waiver to combat the cutbacks.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.