CHILDREN'S HUNGER ALLIANCE 1.2 million Ohioans lack food money, report says

Ohio ranks 48th in providing breakfast for needy schoolchildren.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Nearly 1.2 million Ohioans are hungry or live in households that struggle each month to find money for food, according to an annual study from the Children's Hunger Alliance.
An estimated 129,000 children and 180,000 adult Ohioans go hungry, while an additional 480,000 adults and 366,000 children are at risk of going hungry, said William Dolan, the alliance's chief executive.
"These families live on the verge of hunger and are often unsure how they will be able to afford their next meal," Dolan said.
The report released Friday recommends improving participation in the food stamp program and in federal child nutrition programs, where Ohio ranks 48th in serving needy kids school breakfasts.
The alliance credited the state for making suggested improvements that ease reporting requirements and increase participation in the food stamp program.
Seeking changes
The alliance recommended that the Ohio Department of Job & amp; Family Services change requirements to allow recipients to show eligibility once a year instead of every six months and let families moving from welfare to work receive food stamps for an additional five months.
The department already changed the requirement from three months to six months a year ago, but is not likely to make another change, said Job & amp; Family Services spokesman Jon Allen.
Ohio was penalized an average of $10 million a year by the federal government from 1989 through 1997 for overpayments or underpayments to recipients. The state failed to check often enough for changes in income.
The state now ranks 18th in the nation for accuracy. "Enrollment in the program has increased by 50 percent in three years," Allen said. "There are now over 900,000 Ohioans receiving benefits."
School nutrition programs
The alliance made several recommendations for the state's school nutrition programs:
*Offering meal programs with all school activities.
*Requiring schools to offer breakfast when 20 percent or more of students qualify for the free lunch program.
*Including information on school breakfast programs in the Ohio Department of Education's School Performance Report Card.
*Requiring vending and other foods sold in schools to meet federal nutritional goals.
The Ohio Department of Education is focusing on increasing the number of breakfast programs in schools by offering grants and suggesting innovative ways to serve the meals, said department assistant director Kelly Satola.
Newer programs such as "breakfast in the classroom" work well in Maple Leaf Intermediate School in Garfield Heights, a Cleveland suburb. Teachers resisted when it began a year ago, but now consider it routine, principal Tom Matthews said.
"We had a tremendous amount of children in need, and with the current economy it is more evident than ever," Matthews said. "This way we know the kids are starting the day with brain food."