December 17, 2025 

Governor Bill Lee 

TN State Capitol, First Floor 

Nashville, TN 37243  

Dear Governor Lee: 

Our organizations share your vision of a Tennessee in which no child goes hungry.Unfortunately, hunger is a reality for far too many children, especially during the summer when school meals are unavailable. To alleviate their suffering, we respectfully urge you to build on your administration’s past success by authorizing the state’s renewed participation in the federal Summer EBT program. The deadline for notifying federal officials of that decision is January 1, 2026.     

As you know, Tennessee was one of the first states to participate in Summer EBT when it began in 2024. The Department of Human Services distributed $120 per child to low-wage families to fill the summer nutrition gap. That summer,700,000 Tennessee children received a total of $84 million in food aid, and local economies benefited from the infusion of federal funds. Other states took note of our success, andmost now participate in Summer EBT.  

Tennessee took a different course this year and did not participate in Summer EBT.The Department of Human Services ran a pilot program using state funds only. The program distributed $120 per child, just like Summer EBT, but without federal funding it was limited to 18,000 children in 15 rural counties. The high participation rate of eligible families both summers confirmed that parents are desperate to use whatever resources are available to provide an adequate diet for their children. Any parent can understand what it would be like to watch your children go hungry, or to give them food you know is unhealthy, because it is all you can afford. Low-income families are haunted by their awareness that the trauma ofchildhood hunger can have harmful effects over their children’s entire lives.    

Having tested both approaches to fighting summer hunger, Tennessee can feel confident in rejoining the federal Summer EBT program. It would cost less than $5 million -- roughly the same as the state-only pilot program -- to distribute $84 million in federal nutrition assistance to 700,000 Tennessee children.    

In addition to the fact that leveraging federal assistance enables Tennessee to aid far more children, there are other reasons that now make federal Summer EBT the right choice:  

• Grocery prices are even higher now than last year.  Affordability of all necessities, including first and foremost groceries, is thetop concern of American families.  

• Federal funding for food banks andSNAP (“food stamps”) has been reduced, exposing more children to summer hunger.   

• Many hard-pressed groceries and convenience stores, especially in rural communities, need federal Summer EBT dollars circulating in their local economy.  

We ask that you please provide Summer EBT to Tennessee children and confirm participation with USDA by the January 1, 2026 deadline. 

Respectfully,  

Bedford County; Campbell County; Cannon County; Chester County; Claiborne County ;Clay County

Coffee County

Crockett County

Dyer County

Fentress County

Franklin County

Gibson County

Grainger County

Hamilton County

Hancock County

Hardeman County

Hawkins County

Jackson County

Jefferson County

Lewis County

Lincoln County

Marion County

Marshall County

Maury County

McNairy County

Moore County

Morgan County

Pickett County

Polk County

Rhea County

Roane County

Smith County

Stewart County

Trousdale County

Van Buren County

White County

Wilson County