Hungry Kids In Rhode Island May Not Be Getting Enough To Eat This Summer

When school is out, breakfasts and lunches that many Rhode Island families count on to keep their kids’ bellies full disappear from the daily routine.

The summer months have historically exposed a significant shortfall in child nutrition, as 87% of children who rely on free or reduced-price school meals don’t have access summer meals, according to No Kid Hungry, a national anti-hunger campaign.

The pressure comes as grocery prices remain high for many households. Grocery prices in May were 2.7% higher than a year earlier, according to federal inflation data. For families living on the edge, that can mean fewer fresh foods, smaller grocery trips or more reliance on food pantries.

Summer food programs meant to fill the gap have expanded on paper, but access depends heavily on whether a state participates in federal summer nutrition programs, whether meal sites are nearby, and whether parents can get children to those sites on workdays.

Where To Get Help

Federal assistance comes in two ways:

Summer meal sites, sometimes called SUN Meals, serve free meals and snacks to children 18 and younger at approved locations such as schools, parks, libraries and community centers. Some rural communities also qualify for meal pickup or delivery.

The USDA’s Summer Meals Sites Finder lists more than 60 sites in Rhode Island. Find yours here.

SUN Bucks, also known as Summer EBT, is different. It gives eligible families grocery benefits for school-age children during summer break in states, territories and tribal nations that participate. The benefit is loaded onto an electronic card families can use at grocery stores, farmers' markets and some online retailers.

A dozen states have opted out of the SUN Bucks program: Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.

The programs are meant to work together, not replace one another. A child may be able to receive free summer meals, SUN Bucks and SNAP benefits, depending on household eligibility and state participation.

About 1 in 5 children in the United States don’t always get enough to eat as parents and caregivers face financial hardships that force them to choose between buying groceries or paying their bills, according to anti-hunger advocates.

30,930 Hungry Kids In Rhode Island

The Map the Meal Gap 2025 report from Feeding America, a national network of food banks, estimates food insecurity and local food costs for every county and congressional district in the United States. While nearly 20% of children nationally were experiencing food insecurity, some rural counties had child food insecurity rates as high as 50%, the report said.

In Rhode Island, Feeding America estimated that 15.2% of children were food insecure. That means about 30,930 children may not always have enough food to thrive

Hunger is more difficult to combat among kids from families living on low incomes in rural communities, according to No Kid Hungry. For example:

• 89% of rural families living on low incomes report experiencing food hardship
• 82% of rural caregivers say healthy foods are too expensive
• 75% of (or 3 in 4) rural caregivers say that summer meals help families stretch their food budgets, get enough to eat during the summer, and provide needed support during times of rising food costs.

What’s Ahead

The pressure on families could grow under the 2025 federal budget reconciliation law, which shifts more Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, costs to states.

SNAP cuts are already being felt. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, citing USDA and state program data, says SNAP participation fell by more than 4 million people nationally, or 10 percent, between the July 2025 enactment of the federal reconciliation law and March 2026, the latest month with data for all states. Participation dropped in every state. including by at least 5% in 42 states and at least 10% in 21 states.

In Rhode Island, participation dropped from 140,646 to 125,256 from the July 2025 enactment of the budget bill to March 2026, the last month for which full data is available.

The people losing food assistance include well over 800,000 children, along with workers in low-paying jobs, seniors and people with disabilities — groups supporters of the law said were not the focus of the cuts.

But the losses are happening anyway as states increase paperwork requirements and understaffed state agencies struggle to keep up, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report.

Starting Oct. 1, 2027, most states will be required to pay a portion of SNAP benefit costs, between 5% and 15%, for the first time in the program’s history. The amount each state must pay in the first year will depend on the state’s error rate for fiscal year 2025 or 2026. The error rate is a measure of overpayments and underpayments in SNAP that largely reflect unintentional mistakes, often by program administrators.

In Rhode Island, the estimated cost shift would be about $50 million in fiscal year 2028, according to the think tank’s analysis of USDA data. States could face a collective SNAP bill of roughly $9 billion beginning in 2027, although the actual amount could change depending on state error rates.

See also:

• What SNAP Ruling Means For Food Aid Benefits In Rhode Island
• New RI Law Limits Fees On School Meals
• State Lawmakers Sponsor Bill To Provide Free School Meals
• URI Food Recovery Program Accepting Applications