For the past several weeks, second gentleman Doug Emhoff has been touring the country to promote a number of issues important to the White House. 

On Wednesday, Emhoff traveled to a YMCA in Louisiana to focus on child hunger, an issue that has been exacerbated by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

What You Need To Know

  • Second gentleman Doug Emhoff traveled to a YMCA in Louisiana on Wednesday that serves young children healthy lunches as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program

  • Emhoff donned a pair of blue latex gloves before helping serve a lunch of chocolate milk, spaghetti and meatballs, corn and a banana to a group of four-and-five-year-olds  

  • Emhoff also traveled to the Broadmoor Food Pantry in New Orleans, a location serving as a pop-up vaccination clinic, where he helped pass out boxes packed with kitchen staples

  • According to a recent study by Feeding America, the coronavirus pandemic will continue to impact child and family nutrition, with an estimated 13 million children expected to experience food insecurity in the coming year.

The Belle Chasse YMCA in Plaquemines Parish, which sits across the Mississippi river from New Orleans, serves young children healthy lunches as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program, which reimburses local organizations who provide free meals and snacks for children and teens in low income areas. 

Arriving slightly tardy to a class of fidgeting four-and-five-year-olds, the second gentleman donned a pair of blue latex gloves before helping serve a lunch of chocolate milk, spaghetti and meatballs, corn and a banana. 

“Are you hungry? Sorry I’m a little late,” Emhoff said, taking a seat with the group of nearly two dozen students. Emhoff is a father to two adult children; Ella, 22, and Cole, 26. 

Emhoff also traveled to the Broadmoor Food Pantry in New Orleans, a location serving as a pop-up vaccination clinic, where he helped pass out boxes packed with kitchen staples. 

According to a recent study by Feeding America, the coronavirus pandemic will continue to impact child and family nutrition, with an estimated 13 million children and 48 million people expected to experience food insecurity in the coming year. 

That’s down slightly from the organization’s estimate that 15 million children may have experienced food insecurity in 2020, but up from the 2019 estimate of 11 million children who may have faced hunger at home. 

Food insecurity disproportionately impacts minority communities. As of February, over 1 in 5 Black and Hispanic parents said their households faced problems with hunger, compared to around 1 in 10 white adults with children. 

The coronavirus outbreak has also disproportionately impacted Black, Hispanic, and Native Americans in terms of hospitalizations and deaths. Reasons are complex, but the disparities stem from multiple sources: people of color are vastly overrepresented in frontline industries, and are therefore exposed to the disease at a much higher rate. 

President Joe Biden’s administration has taken a number of steps to address both issues, Emhoff noted Wednesday, saying it was “really great” to see the food program at work, as the products at Broadmoor Food Pantry largely came from the USDA.

Emhoff went on to tout some of the provisions included in the American Rescue Plan that benefit children, while also saying some of the changes need to be made permanent. 

In late April, the USDA announced it would extend its free lunch program for every K-12 student through the 2021-2022 school year. 

The changes to the free lunch program were first mandated under the Trump administration in early 2020 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, when nationwide school closures prevented many children from getting the nutritious meals they typically would receive during the school day. 

The loosened restrictions not only allowed children to continue eating free lunch meals outside of the classroom, but also gave parents more flexibility and options to feed their children. The original rule change let schools offer meal pick-up times for parents and guardians, waived meal pattern requirements, and better accommodated for social-distancing protocols.  

Last October, the Trump administration extended the waivers for the full 2021 school year. Before April’s announcement, the Biden administration had only approved the program to continue through this September. 

“States and districts wanted waivers extended to plan for safe reopening in the fall,” agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack wrote in a statement announcing the extension. “USDA answered the call to help America’s schools and childcare institutions serve high quality meals while being responsive to their local needs as children safely return to their regular routines.” 

The extension allows schools to continue using the National School Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option (SSO), which is typically only offered during the summer months, to serve students healthy food year-round. The program will have a “strong emphasis on providing fruits and vegetables, fluid milk, whole grains, and sensible calorie levels, while allowing schools to serve free meals to all children,” per the USDA. 

Those schools who choose to participate in the extended program will receive “higher-than-normal meal reimbursements” for each meal served. 

The Biden administration hopes to reach the nearly 12 million children living in households that face food insecurity amid the pandemic, per the White House. 

President Biden met with Senate Democrats on Wednesday to discuss the $3.5 trillion budget proposal announced by the group yesterday. Details of the package have yet to be released, but the bill reportedly includes robust investments in education, health care and family programs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.