Government shutdown could cause school children to go hungry

GLASGOW, Ky. – With the U.S. in the fifth week of the longest government shutdown in history, already cash-strapped families may have their children feeling more hunger pangs as government-funded school lunch programs could be affected.

Schools around the country may have to start using reserve funding intended for classroom use to ensure that students are still fed through free and reduced lunch programs.

Glasgow city schools director of food services Stacy Jessie said the Glasgow Independent Schools have thankfully not been affected, at least not yet.

“We have seen little to no effect at all here at Glasgow Independent Schools. We received a notification from the USDA that told us we would be fine through March as far as having the resources necessary,” Jessie said.

Jessie is confident the community will come together to help children get what they need, should the worst start to happen.

“I feel that if it became an issue and we desperately needed help feeding the students, the community of Glasgow is an incredible community, and I feel that they would be ready to step in and assist through donations of food or donations of money that would help us to continue feeding our students. We would find a way. We would shop smarter, we would prepare it and feed it to the students the best we could,” Jessie said.