As Alabama students re-start school learning from a distance this week, in many places they won’t be able to count on their school for lunch anymore. That has some advocates worried.

"While one in six Alabamians are hungry," Alabama Arise Executive Director Robyn Hyden said, "it's one in four children."

Jefferson County schools, one of the largest districts in Alabama with 36,000 students, announced Thursday they would no longer make meals available at school locations, citing health and safety concerns for employees and families.

“Our first priority is to keep everybody safe at a time like this," Superintendent Dr. Walter Gonsoulin said.

Birmingham City Schools soon followed with their own announcement, closing school-based sites to stop the spread of coronavirus, but distributing food one final time on Monday at community centers in the area.

BCSEats Expanded Meal Services will temporarily suspend services after Monday, April 6, 2020 from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. pic.twitter.com/w1Vxkf9qxL — Birmingham City Schools🎓 (@BhamCitySchools) April 5, 2020

Madison County closed their schools for meal pickup but will donate food from their schools to community partners who will then distribute those meals to students.

Most school districts made meals available for students through the initial school closure period, March 16 through April 3, but it's unclear how many will continue to do so from here on out.

It's a difficult choice for school officials, as they must choose between feeding hungry kids and working to slow the spread of the virus.

Shelby County and Lee County decided to continue to distribute meals through school sites, but caution parents to stay in their cars and practice social distancing.

Celida Soto Garcia coordinates hunger advocacy efforts for Alabama Arise and said the food situation in some of Alabama's Black Belt counties is dire, with schools and churches filling the need wherever possible.

"They're doing the best they can," Garcia said, "but it's scary."

Selma City Schools will continue to serve meals to students, delivering them on bus routes, according to Superintendent Dr. Avis Williams.

“We know that many of our scholars and families depend on school lunch for those two nutritional meals each day” Williams said. “We look at it as part of how we are taking care of the whole child. They must be healthy and well fed in order to learn. Our churches and other community groups have also helped by providing meals.”

Athens City schools has taken over feeding efforts for all of Limestone County, with a total of more than 15,000 students in both districts combined and will continue to hand out meals at Athens Elementary School on Mondays and Thursdays.

“You’ve got hungry kids in the community that need it,” Athens City Schools Superintendent Dr. Trey Holladay told AL.com “We served 3,300 meals today.”

Holladay said employees are wearing protective equipment and practicing social distancing at schools.

Reminder! Free drive-thru food service is at Athens Elementary School today from 10-12 for children 18 and younger. @LCSforKids students are invited to participate as long as supplies last. See details at https://t.co/he3nRhtQht #oneathens pic.twitter.com/gPZYedV5oU — Athens City Schools (@AthensALSchools) April 6, 2020

Families that need help with food should reach out for help, Garcia said. She recommends texting “FOOD” to 877-877, a service of No Kid Hungry, a national non-profit organizations that helps alleviate child hunger. Provide your zip code or full address and they’ll text back where meals are available near you.

The Alabama State Department of Education's Break for a Plate website is available, though it requires a lot of clicks to get to helpful information and doesn't work well on mobile devices.

United Way's 211 call center is a resource, too. "211 is the number to call when you're in need," said Executive Director Becky Booker. "We are the best place to connect you with available resources in your community."

Calls to 211 for food needs jumped from 423 statewide in March 2019 to 2,545 in March of this year, a six-fold increase.

"Alabama is one of the most food insecure states in the country," Alabama Arise policy analyst Carol Gundlach said. "There's no question about that."

About half of Alabama's families are eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, because their income is below 130% of the federal poverty level.

Statewide, applications for food assistance have risen to four or five times what is has been in previous months, Gundlach said.

Through the federal Families First Act, states can provide money to families to replace the cost of school meals. That amount would be around $114 per child per month according to Gundlach.

Gundlach said state officials in the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Education are working on a way to distribute that funding by providing an increase in food stamp benefits and possibly distributing EBT cards to parents whose children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals but who aren’t already signed up to receive food stamps.

Food pantry requests were up more than 700% according to data from the United Way's 211 program, and that was only through March 30, before school officials began announcing they wouldn't continue serving meals through the end of the school year.

Updated: 2:40 p.m. to include comment from Selma City Schools Superintendent Dr. Avis Williams.

Related: Asking for help: Alabama food pantry requests up over 700 percent

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