SHERIDAN — In a year when many faced hunger for the first time, school employees stepped up, serving meals to more children than ever under unprecedented circumstances. 

Food insecurity affects 12 million children in the U.S. and about 23,500 children in Wyoming, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated a nationwide hunger crisis. In Wyoming, one in four children struggle with food insecurity, according to the Wyoming Hunger Initiative. 

To help, school districts across Wyoming that participate in the National School Lunch Program have been able to provide free meals to kids, no questions asked, since the onset of the pandemic. From March to December of 2020, the Wyoming Department of Education reimbursed seven million lunches, 4.5 million breakfasts and 127,000 snacks just in Wyoming, said Tamra Jackson, child nutrition programs state director with the WDE.

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