Given recent temperatures that have been more akin to what you would experience in Fairbanks, Alaska, or the outback of Finland, it can seem like summer is a long, long way away.

But it will be here before you know it. Memorial Day is just four months away. The first baseball games are just two months away. By then, the sweaters we are wrapping ourselves in now will again be stashed in the deeper recesses of our closets.

And although most of us relish the idea of summer in the dead of winter, those warm-weather months can be a trying time for families that rely on free or reduced-price lunches during the school year. After all, the need for three nutritious meals a day doesn’t go away once the windows open and air conditioners are fired up.

A new federal program seeks to fill this gap by giving eligible families $120 per child in June, July and August that would allow them to purchase food at grocery stores and other approved outlets. The federal government covers all of the costs and half the administrative costs, leaving the other half to participating states. Making sure that all children have access to food outside the school year is not only compassionate, but a wise investment in our future - children who grow up in food-insecure households are more likely to have behavioral problems, developmental delays, and chronic illnesses, which costs all of us in the long run.

All told, an estimated 17 million households are classified as food insecure, a number that has gone up since pandemic aid ended. This makes a summer food program all the more important.

Pennsylvania is, thankfully, among the states participating. The administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro is linking it to its efforts to provide universal free breakfast for school children. Khalid Mumin, the commonwealth’s education secretary, said, “Children cannot learn on empty stomachs, and the need for healthy and nutritious meals does not end with school.”

That seems obvious, but unfortunately 15 states opted not to participate in the program by the time the Jan. 1 deadline rolled around. All are led by Republicans. Some said they didn’t have the administrative apparatus in place to deal with the program, but left the door open to participate in the future. However, some states are declining to take the federal funds, it seems, on purely ideological grounds.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, for example, said his state was not going to participate because, in his words, “I don’t believe in welfare.” And Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said the program “does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.”

So we fight childhood obesity by ... denying food to children?

If we truly care about our children, making sure they have enough to eat in every month of the year should be among our top priorities.

Uniontown Herald-Standard