Officials in Little Rock at a news conference on Thursday marked the first day of Hunger Action Month and the latest initiatives associated with the Central Arkansas Library System's anti-hunger program known as Be Mighty Little Rock.
Hunger Action Month is a public-awareness campaign of the nonprofit group Feeding America recognized in September.
During the news conference, which was held at the John Gould Fletcher Library, Little Rock City Director Kathy Webb of Ward 3 said officials hoped to enlist the support of thousands of others in the fight to alleviate hunger in Arkansas, and specifically in Little Rock.
Webb, who also serves as chief executive officer of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, said that since the Be Mighty campaign started, "we've been able to expand this collaboration to many more partners, and it's making a difference for our kids."
Be Mighty Little Rock provides meals for children and teenagers 18 and under during after-school hours, as well as on weekends and over the summer.
The meal program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and operates out of 11 library system locations.
Be Mighty Little Rock's fall meal service began Aug. 22.
Jasmine Zandi, the coordinator of Be Mighty Little Rock, told reporters Thursday that "we know hungry kids likely come from hungry families, and we want to be sure to really foster that sense of well-being within our entire community."
The program will host food-box distributions open to the public throughout the fall, continue to stock "Little Free Pantries" with shelf-stable goods and offer adult meals at certain branches beginning later this month, according to Zandi.
Because of recent congressional action, branches of the library system are able to offer grab-and-go meals that do not require kids and teens to eat on-site, Zandi said.
Additionally, parents can now pick up meals for their kids without registration or I.D. as long as they "complete a parent attestation form to acknowledge that the children for whom they are picking up meals are theirs," Zandi said.
Grab-and-go meals were offered at library system locations during the covid-19 pandemic. Federal waivers and flexibilities gave out-of-school sites the ability to keep serving meals in more health-conscious ways, Zandi explained in a follow-up email.
"Around mid-late summer, Congress passed the Keep Kids Fed Act, extending the life of some of the initial pandemic waivers," she wrote. "In our case at the library, we use the waivers for grab & go meal service as well as parent pick up, allowing for non-congregate meal consumption and increased flexibilities for parents trying to access meals between work hours or after picking kids up from school."
Recalling the origins of the Be Mighty Little Rock program, Nate Coulter, the executive director of the Central Arkansas Library System, said that Little Rock is the only city that has sustained its efforts on hunger among the six cities that received "seed money" from the National League of Cities in 2018.
Other grants and collaborative ventures followed, Coulter told reporters.
More than 44,600 meals were served at library system locations last year and more than 4.5 million meals have been served across the city since the program began, he said.
Besides its meal-distribution programming, Be Mighty Little Rock gave out 458 bus passes last year in partnership with the transit agency Rock Region Metro, according to a news release.
Previously known as "Rides to Reads," the "Be Mighty METRO" program now features a purple "Be Mighty"-branded library card and bus pass.