(Radio Iowa) – Federal officials are giving Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds the go-ahead for a pilot project that will supply boxes of food to some low-income families this summer. During the Biden Administration, Reynolds rejected a summer feeding program for low-income households with school children. It extended 120-dollars worth of electronic benefits for grocery purchases. Reynolds instead proposed having the State of Iowa buy healthy food in bulk and provide boxes of food to those families.

The Trump Administration has now granted Iowa a waiver for the governor’s “Healthy Kids Iowa” summer feeding program. Reynolds says the state-run program will provide nutritious, wholesome food and promote healthy eating habits. U-S Ag Secretary Brooke Rollings says state-led innovation in federal nutrition programs is the right thing to do for those in need and for taxpayers.

Under the “Healthy Kids Iowa” program, an eligible family will be able to select 40-dollars worth of food for each school-aged child each month during the summer. Parents will pick up the groceries at food pantries. Iowa Hunger Coalition leaders say they appreciate that more federal resources will be used to provide food for children over the summer, but the group is concerned about barriers parents may face in picking up the food boxes and the additional strain it could place on food pantries already experiencing record-breaking demand.