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Thread: In Puerto Rico, just 150 of 780 school cafeterias are providing breakfast and lunch to children during the pandemic, in spite of judicial orders to reopen them all. Advocates say that each passing day causes “irreparable damage” to hungry families. https://thecounter.org/puerto-rico-judge-ordered-open-school-cafeterias-closed-hunger-covid-19/
The Puerto Rican government insists that it is meeting the needs of food insecure families via school cafeterias that are open, in addition to its work with non-profits.
But anti-hunger groups point out that many families are falling through the social safety net. In the past few months, parents have reported having to skip meals and teachers have reported buying food for hungry students. See: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/13/854734386/mam-im-still-hungry-in-puerto-rico-child-hunger-becomes-a-flashpoint and: https://apnews.com/b7bddea8f2ed017cd25357741b4bba48
Neighbors are turning to each other for support instead: Lucia Santana, a resident of the Manuel A. Perez Housing Project in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has devoted a significant amount of personal time and money delivering meals to seniors and buying food for neighbors.
But Santana also believes that the government could do a lot more to mitigate food insecurity, starting with the opening of all school cafeterias. Determined, Santana and fellow advocates brought the issue to the courts in April.
In late May, the judge overseeing their case ordered the Secretary of Education to “open all school cafeterias as necessary to feed the entire population in a state of need as a result of the emergency situation caused by Covid-19, while the state of emergency lasts.”
That has yet to happen. Now, the lawsuit’s plaintiffs are calling for Secretary of Education Eligio Hernández Pérez to be jailed for contempt of the court.
What makes the issue of shuttered school cafeterias particularly consequential in Puerto Rico is the territory’s high level of food insecurity. According to the U.S. Census, 58 percent of children in Puerto Rico live in poverty, compared to 16 percent nationwide.
Additionally, people in Puerto Rico are also not eligible for P-EBT, a Covid-19 relief program that gives families with children extra benefits to cover the cost of lost school meals.
The lawsuit is still winding its way through the judicial systems. In the meantime, Santana plans to keep showing up for her neighbors. She can't imagine the alternative: “That’s not me.”
