Washington, May 29 (RHC)-- In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rates of child hunger are soaring across the United States.  Despite the surge, a federal program to feed schoolchildren who’ve been cut off from school meals during the pandemic has reached only a small fraction of the 30 million students it was intended to help. 

The New York Times reports only 15% of eligible children have received benefits under the Pandemic EBT program, even though a fifth of U.S. mothers in a recent survey reported their children were not getting enough to eat.

Meanwhile, the Census Bureau reports more than a third of all U.S. adults are showing signs of clinical anxiety or depression during the pandemic.  That figure is about double the rate found in a survey in 2014.