(Tompkins Weekly, 7-7-26, by Charles McKenzie)
When federal food benefits were cut over the past year, the impact didn’t fall evenly — it landed hardest on children in households already stretched thin by low wages and the rising cost of living. Families who were already walking a tightrope soon found themselves balancing over a canyon.
For teachers and administrators like first-year Fall Creek Elementary School principal Tara Caiza, the impact was not political or theoretical, it was staring up at them.
“Younger children are really honest and will say, ‘I need another breakfast. I didn’t eat last night,’ or ‘Can I bring home another lunch so I can have it for dinner?’” Caiza recalls.
When hunger shows up in the classroom, teachers see it in the child who can’t focus and the student who becomes irritable by mid‑morning. Hunger undermines learning by diminishing memory, attention and emotional regulation — the very building blocks of education.
“Because teachers provide snacks throughout the day, it’s not uncommon for kids to ask for food. We’ve normalized that in many ways over the years. But this crisis was different. Children were coming in hungry and worried.”
According to multiple analyses, the budget reconciliation bill signed in 2025 significantly reduced the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, shrinking access to food assistance for millions of Americans and disproportionately affecting children, who make up roughly four in 10 SNAP recipients. Before cuts to SNAP, Fall Creek was helping five children. Immediately afterward, there were just a few more.
“The increase was slow, and then it was very fast, Caiza said.” The number soon exploded to around 35 students, many with hungry siblings and caregivers. She estimates that at one point, the school was feeding 100 people.
“Once it became bigger, we then looked at partnering with other organizations for ways to provide systemic support.” Families juggled finding that day’s food while navigating an alphabet soup of local, state and federal programs.
“I think families felt comfortable reaching out because we were an open door. They were asking us for other safe organizations to reach out to.” Caiza began sending info about food banks and other organizations home to all families just in case some still had not come forward.
Foodwise, the most immediate needs were met by staff who donated food and then by classmates’ proactive families.
“I love our Fall Creek community and its willingness to solve a problem together. I had as many families offering to help as I had families needing support, and the PTA was incredibly supportive with making sure that we had both food and ways to get it to families. [That] was actually the easiest part.”
The biggest challenges were the infrastructure at a small school.
“Our sphere is education. There weren’t times built into the day for teachers and staff to be able to gather food and sort it,” she said. And finding storage space was also a challenge, especially for refrigerated food. The school eventually transitioned to more non-perishable items. “We need things like fridges. We just don’t have the staff or the infrastructure that is readily available to scale in an educational space.”
Though it didn’t necessarily put a major dent in her staffing needs, she put her youngest students to work. The school used its food bank as service learning for a group of first and second graders who helped organize a plan for getting food to families.
“It was very sweet, and they were very helpful. It was all about increasing their civic responsibility both in the building and in their community, but in the end their worldview did not really change. They were open already to the idea that all families struggle, and we are here to help each other as a community. It was really lovely to see how their view of the world was already collaborative at a young age. Kids are so open, accepting, empathetic and kind here. They see everybody’s struggles.”
“I think what this crisis allowed us is a way in to reach families who were uncomfortable coming to us in the past. Maybe they were just hanging on or just OK, and now they’ve realized that’s no longer the case.”
Even after the SNAP programs were reinstated, the need did not return to pre-cut levels.
“There are other things going on in the world that are impacting the families economically, so we are still sending home food weekly to probably around 25 families,” she said in April. And that’s still a drastic increase from the fall.”
All that matters though is that children are well fed and ready to learn. Even the youngest ones know instinctively what policy debates sometimes obscure — that hunger is not just a bureaucratic issue, but a human one, and that no child should have to carry its weight.
Charles McKenzie is a member of the Tompkins Food Future Education and Amplification Working Group, which works to share stories of the work being done in the local food system. Tompkins Food Future is a coalition of food system leaders working to advance a more resilient, equitable and healthy food system for all residents of Tompkins County.
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