Across Washington region, many students fight hunger when school is out The challenges poor families face differ widely by county, neighborhood and household. Some school officials say that the current system works efficiently, with most families getting by well enough without intervention from school administrators. Some principals and Parent Teacher Association representatives, however, say hundreds - if not thousands - of families will struggle to feed their children this holiday season. In many cases, school administrators who help say they are sometimes hindered by privacy rules that prevent them from knowing precisely which children come from poor families. Despite rising need, Fairfax, Montgomery, Loudoun and Arlington counties and D.C. Public Schools do not provide meals during the winter break, according to officials. Luis San Sebastian, acting principal at Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring, said about 95 percent of his 708 students qualify for meal subsidies - the highest percentage in Montgomery County. "Here we are, one of the wealthiest counties in the country, but the reality is there are pockets of deep poverty here," San Sebastian said. At Broad Acres, he said, many parents are immigrants who work as day laborers or take early morning shifts at hourly jobs at places like fast-food restaurants. San Sebastian said that several volunteer groups will fill baskets with canned foods and other nonperishable goods for students who are eligible for subsidized meals to take home for the winter break. To be eligible for free meals, a student's total household income should be less than 130 percent of the federal poverty level. To qualify for a reduced-price meal, a student's family income should be between 130 and 185 percent of the poverty line. That means a student with two working parents who earn less than $27,991 a year qualifies for a subsidized meal. In Fairfax County, the second-wealthiest county in the nation, the number of students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals has grown by 38 percent since 2008. This year, a quarter of the student population - nearly 47,000 children - are eligible for the program. Montgomery public schools have seen an increase of about 12,000 students in the subsidized meals program since 2007. Today, about 49,350 students in the County - 33 percent of the total enrollment - are eligible for free and reduced meals.