Late-day meals fill empty bellies

“Can I have some more lasagna?’’ the 3-year-old said from her booster seat. “I love it.’’

She moved on to her seconds, and the other children at the evening-care program were also chomping down on the dish made of spinach, peppers, carrots, tomato, fresh basil, and cheese.

More low-income schoolchildren could soon have access to free nutritious dinners like the lasagna that Avery loved. A US Department of Agriculture program in Vermont, 12 other states, and the District of Columbia provides reimbursements for the suppers, served at after-school programs for at-risk children in communities where at least 50 percent of households fall below the poverty level.

“What it allows us to do is provide those kids with an extra nutritious meal before they go home because some kids go home to nothing,’’ said Susan Eckes, director of child nutrition programs for the Food Bank of Northern Nevada.

Around the country, about 49,000 children benefit from the after-school meals each day. The program is expected to cost $8 million from 2009 to 2013, the USDA said.

With more families losing jobs and homes, the need is growing, officials said.

The number of Americans who live in food-insecure households — those that at times don’t have enough nutritious food — rose from 36 million in 2007 to 49 million in 2008, according to the most recent report from USDA’s Economic Research Service.

Among those, 16.7 million were children, up from 12.4 million in 2007.

Nearly one in four children in the United States are food insecure and about one in five live in poverty, according to a report from Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks around the country.

“As the economy gets worse, we’re seeing more and more kids,’’ said Beth Baldwin-Page, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro.

In East Prairie, Mo., children who may have skipped the meal from time to time are coming every day, said Lester Gillespie, youth program director at the Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center, which serves 150 meals a day at two sites to children age 5 to 18.

A lack of nutritious food, especially in the first three to five years, can have lasting effects on the health and development of children. Nutritious meals help them learn and concentrate, officials have said.

“What we’ve noticed is that when kids are eating nutritional meals, they tend not to get involved in negative activities such as doing graffiti or committing delinquent acts because when their stomach is full they make good decisions,’’ said Gillespie.

Programs in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and now Vermont are eligible for reimbursement for suppers.

The USDA requires the sites to offer nutritionally balanced suppers with milk, a protein, fruit, vegetables and bread or a grain item. Delaware has gone a step further, limiting sugar and fat in its meals.

The Brattleboro Boys & Girls Club started offering dinners on its own two and a half years ago. The program just starting getting the federal reimbursement of $2.68 per meal.

Three days a week, the club offers dinners feeding 40 to 60 children on a Thursday night to up to 100 on Friday.

“It’s popular. Unfortunately, it’s necessary,’’ said Ricky Davidson, unit director.