Show this article to Cynthia Davis

An article in today's Washington Post examines the summer meals program in a Washington-area school district, and explains the need for it in a way that even Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, might understand it:

"Hunger doesn't take a summer break," said County Council member Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring), chairman of the council's Education Committee, who spearheaded efforts to expand the program.

Although children from low-income homes are entitled to federally subsidized meals year-round, the free or reduced-price meals reach fewer than 20 percent of eligible children nationwide during the summer break. Millions of children pass July and August malnourished and idle, conditions that promote obesity and contribute to the well-documented learning gap between haves and have-nots.