CHAMPAIGN — One in five children in Champaign County doesn't have enough food, and many of them are not eligible for subsidized school lunches or other federal food assistance, hunger experts say.

The numbers come from a "food insecurity" study originally published last spring by Feeding America, a national hunger-relief organization, and updated recently by Craig Gundersen, associate professor in the University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics.

Gundersen, who spoke at a hunger symposium Monday night, said childhood poverty and hunger rates are higher than those of the general population, and he found the same for those who are "food insecure" — unable to get enough food on a regular basis.

The study found 24.4 percent of children in the Eastern Illinois Foodbank's 14-county area should be classified as food insecure, compared with the 15.6 percent of all households reported last spring.

Similarly, in Champaign County, 21.1 percent of children are food insecure, compared with 15.8 percent of all households, he said. The numbers for Vermilion County are higher — 29 percent and 17.8 percent.

Yet 40 percent of children in Illinois who are food insecure aren't eligible for the national subsidized school-lunch program, which accepts families earning 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Nor would they qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly called food stamps, which has a lower earnings cutoff — up to 130 percent of the poverty level.

Generally, a family of four earning more than $40,000 annually wouldn't qualify for either program, Gundersen said, something hunger experts call the "meal gap."

Concerned about budget-deficit talks in Washington, the state's emergency food network is asking supporters to help fend off cuts in federal nutrition programs seen as crucial in tough economic times.

"These programs are a lifeline for tens and tens of thousands of families in East Central Illinois," said Cheryl Precious, development director for the Eastern Illinois Foodbank.

They also bring money into the community, she said. Experts say every $1 in food stamps generates $1.79 for the community where it's spent, from the food truck driver to the grocery store owner.

Government commodities from the Emergency Food Assistance Program — meat and produce bought from farmers by the government and used in prisons, school lunches and food banks — also make up 15 to 25 percent of the food distributed by the food bank, she said.

The Obama administration pumped more money into the program last year as part of the economic stimulus, but now that it's expired, the amount of food will drop by an estimated 50 percent — even as demand remains high, she said.

"Washington is really scrambling to look for ways to cut spending right now. We're just really concerned that those programs are going to be on the chopping block," she said.

Tracy Smith, director of Feeding Illinois, the state association of food banks, said child nutrition programs were reauthorized by Congress last year and are relatively safe.

But the federal farm bill — home to programs like SNAP, senior meals and emergency food assistance — is up for reauthorization and a potential target for cuts.

In all, Illinois gets close to $3 billion in federal food aid each year, about $2.7 billion of that through SNAP, Smith said. Other money comes through the school lunch program; the Women, Infants and Children program; and the Older Americans Act.

Critics of SNAP typically target fraud in the program, citing rampant abuse and mismanagement, which Smith calls "mythology." Even as the program has grown 65 percent during the recession to accommodate the newly unemployed, the error rate for overpayments or underpayments has dropped and retail fraud has declined, she said.

Gundersen said some legislators want to convert SNAP from an entitlement program to block-grants, giving states more flexibility but also capping it at a certain amount. That would hamper its ability to respond during an economic downturn, he said.

"It's been a real safety net at a time when it should be, during an economic downturn," Smith said. "For many, many families, this is making the difference between eating and not eating."

Efforts to impose more restrictions on what food stamps can buy, to prevent obesity, could also lead to lower participation, Gunderson said. Research has shown using SNAP benefits actually lowers the risk for obesity, he said.

Monday's forum at the Illinois Terminal was co-hosted by the food bank and the UI Family Resiliency Center.

Food insecurity rates

Source: UI Associate Professor Craig Gundersen, Feeding America’s “Map the Meal Gap” report