• The USDA provides nutritional food assistance programs for children and low-income families.fruit.green grapes and apples image by L. Shat from Fotolia.com
  
  According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 14.6 percent of U.S. households struggled to provide food for their families in 2008. In 1995, the first year the study was conducted, that figure was 11.1 percent. In response, the USDA provides nutrition assistance programs to children and low-income people throughout the country.
  
  

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

• The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), often called food stamps, provides food for more than 39 million people every month. Participants are given electronic benefits that can be used as cash when grocery shopping. Alcohol, tobacco, medicine, non-food items and food that can be eaten in the store cannot be bought with food stamps.
  
  To be eligible for SNAP benefits, participants must reside in a household with income less than 130 percent of national poverty guidelines. The average benefit amount is between $101 and $227 per family.
  
  

Women, Infants and Children Program

• The Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC) supplies supplemental food packages, nutrition information and health care referrals to people found to be at nutritional risk. This includes children under the age of 5 and low-income women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Food packages include essential and healthful items like fruits, vegetables, infant cereal or formula, milk and other dairy products, fish, juice and breakfast cereals.
  
  Eligibility is open to people residing in homes with incomes of between 100 percent and 185 percent of federal poverty guidelines. Those participating in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid or SNAP benefits are automatically eligible.
  
  

Child and Adult Care Food Program

• The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) provides healthful meals and snacks for 3.2 million children and 112,000 adults a day. Food is distributed within day care centers and homes, after-school care programs for "at risk" children, emergency shelters and nonresidential adult day care facilities.
  
  To be eligible to receive free meals, participants must reside in households with incomes at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level. Eligibility for reduced priced meals means that household incomes can be between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level. Children living in shelters and adults who receive Medicaid benefits, Social Security income (SSI) or food stamps are automatically eligible to receive free meals.