Sen. Aguilar says summer food program will benefit Hall County, encouraged Pillen to change his mind

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. -- More than 150,000 students in Nebraska will now be eligible for a summer food assistance program.  

Gov. Jim Pillen said for months that he wouldn’t accept $18 million in federal funds that would provide extra money for food assistance over the summer for low-income families.

On Monday, he announced he had changed his mind. Among the factors that led to his flip? A conversation with Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island.

“I went to his office and we had a very congenial meeting," Aguilar said. "He explained to me why he wasn’t for and I explained to him why I was, because of the importance to my community – very important. I was committed to it and he probably wasn’t gonna be able to change my mind. I made that point very clear."

Aguilar said Grand Island Public School officials told him they have one of the state's highest percentages for low income and free lunch programs.

Grand Island also has one of the lower medium incomes for cities in Nebraska. Those facts motivated him to propose LB 952 and make it his priority bill.

If passed, it would have required the state to implement the federal food program.

“(It was) a very proud for me and enjoyable to get up in front of my peers and say look what we got done," Aguilar said. "We accomplished our goal and we don’t have to count votes or anything. We did it the easy way.”

In addition to vendor-issued cards, the program will have supplemental features such as educational outreach to families, a website that provides connections to other summer programs, trained staff with DHHS to assess other needs and more.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, an estimated 150,000 students or 80,000 households will be eligible to receive the benefits of the program.