The New York City Mobile Vending Program deploys two food trucks to go to places where
families and children normally gather to provide free summer meals. New York City partnered
with Share Our Strength and the Walmart Foundation. 

March 11, 2013 - By Tony Craddock, Jr., Food and Nutrition Service
The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is one of the most underutilized federal programs despite the fact that it was created to feed hungry children during summer. Of the children who are eligible for SFSP (by way of receiving free or reduced-price school meals), only about 10% of those children participate in SFSP. Such perplexing statistics have signaled a call for innovative ideas for facilitating increased access to SFSP. The National League of Cities (NLC) Institute for Youth, Education and Families and the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) have answered this call by launching the second phase of Cities Combating Hunger through Afterschool Meal Program (CHAMP). This work was also made possible by a $1.5 million grants from the Walmart Foundation.

The first phase of CHAMP featured 11 out-of-school time program providers who partnered with city governments to maximize the utilization of federal funding for afterschool and summer feeding. In Omaha, Nebraska, this effort amounted to a whopping 137,000 meals served in six months.

The second phase of CHAMP begins with two regional leadership academies in late May and early June, which are each open to 10 city teams (20 city teams in total). The city teams will feature one city official and two key stakeholders who will be provided with strategies to link the afterschool and summer feeding programs to create  year-round out-of-school meals in their respective cities. At the leadership academies, national experts with experience in afterschool and summer feeding programs will share their wisdom and best practices with the city teams. And just in case you're thinking about finances, travel costs for city teams will be covered by project funds.  The request for proposals to participate in one of the leadership academies is available here.  Applications are due no later than March 25, 2013.   

Following the leadership academies, up to 15 of the 20 cities that attended will have a chance to receive between $30,000 to $60,000 for technical assistance and training to develop and improve their afterschool and summer meal programs for 12 months. Opportunities such as this show that cities are serious about ending childhood hunger, and most importantly, interested in doing it in a collaborative way where ideas are shared openly. If you are interested in being one of the cities to benefit from this idea, click here for more information. Again, applications are due no later than March 25, 2013. Help make your city a trailblazer in ending childhood hunger.  
 

Pastor Joseito Velasquez (middle) with USDA Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Service Under Secretary Concannon (left) and Dr. Danny Carroll Rodas (right) during a visit to Healing Waters Family Center in Denver, CO last year.

 

February 28, 2013 - By Tony Craddock, Jr., Food and Nutrition Service

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is a federally funded program administered by the States that reimburses organizations that serve children meals during summer months when school is out. Unfortunately, SFSP is one of the most underutilized federal programs, with around only 10% of children who are eligible for the program receiving meals. There are hundreds of organizations throughout the country feeding hungry children through the SFSP. Healing Waters Family Center in Denver, Colorado is an example of how an organization can use the creativity and partnership-building that is allowed and encouraged in the SFSP to feed more hungry children int their communities.
 

Healing Waters Family Center is lead by Senior Pastor Joseito Velasquez. The organization's journey to becoming a SFSP sponsor began in 2010 when Pastor Velasquez attended an SFSP informational webinar. An SFSP sponsor is an organization that is approved by the state to serve summer meals to eligible hungry kids and then get reimbursed for every meal they serve.  Eighty percent of the community surrounding Healing Waters in Denver, CO lives below the federal poverty line.  With this knowledge no doubt in his mind, the SFSP webinar emboldened the Pastor's desire to feed the needy in his community. His vision was larger than simply providing meals; Pastor Velasquez also wanted to provide his community with spiritual nourishment and refer them to other county agencies that could tend to their needs.
 

Healing Waters partnered with Hunger Free Colorado, the local school district, private organizations, and the local police and fire departments to serve over 5,000 meals in their first year of operating the SFSP. The site was open every day to serve breakfast and lunch. Between the two meals, Healing Waters provided different activities for the participants, such as sports, art projects, field trips, and personal development lectures. USDA Food and Nutrition Consumer Service Under Secretary Kevin Concannon stated, "When I arrived at Healing Waters, about 35 children were taking part in a lesson about important qualities young people should have, such as kindness and faith." Healing Waters also seamlessly connected participants and their families with other agencies in the Denver area upon developing a relationship with them and learning about their needs. 

Healing Waters now has expanded its summer feeding operation by enlisting the help of smaller churches in the community.  Pastor Velasquez helped convince these smaller churches to become summer feeding sites, which would afford more children access to free summer meals.

All the great work initiated by Healing Waters Family Center began by attending an informational webinar on SFSP, just like the ones we're hosting this year in 2013 from now though the beginning of April. If you are interested, you can register to attend by clicking here.  If you are not able to attend the webinar, you can learn the same information by visiting the FNS webinars library page. Let the change in your community begin with you!
 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR OUR WEBINARS

Pastor Joseito Velasquez (middle) with USDA Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Service Under Secretary Concannon (left) and Dr. Danny Carroll Rodas (right) during a visit to Healing Waters Family Center in Denver, CO last year.

 

February 28, 2013 - By Tony Craddock, Jr., Food and Nutrition Service

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is a federally funded program administered by the States that reburses organizations that serve children meals during summer months when school is out. Unfortunately, SFSP is one of the most underutilized federal programs, with around only 10% of children receiving meals who are eligible for the program. There are hundreds of organizations throughout the country feeding hungry children through the SFSP.  Healing Waters Family Center in Denver, Colorado is an example of how an organization can use the creativity and partnership-building allowed and encouraged in the SFSP to feed more hungry children int their communities.
 

Healing Waters Family Center is lead by Senior Pastor Joseito Velasquez. The organization's journey to becoming a SFSP sponsor began in 2010 when Pastor Velasquez attended an SFSP informational webinar. A SFSP sponsor is an organization that is approved by the state to serve summer meals to eligible hungry kids and then get reimbursed for every meal they serve.  Eighty percent of the community surrounding Healing Waters in Denver, CO lives below the federal poverty line.  With this knowledge no doubt in his mind, the SFSP webinar emboldened the Pastor's desire to feed the needy in his community. His vision was larger than simply providing meals; Pastor Velasquez also wanted to provide his community with spiritual nourishment and refer them to other county agencies that could tend to their needs.
 

Healing Waters partnered with Hunger Free Colorado, the local school district, private organizations, and the local police and fire departments to serve over 5,000 meals in their first year of operating the SFSP. The site was open every day to serve breakfast and lunch. Between the two meals, Healing Waters provided different activities for the participants, such as sports, art projects, field trips, and personal development lectures. USDA Food and Nutrition Consumer Service Under Secretary Kevin Concannon stated, "When I arrived at Healing Waters, about 35 children were taking part in a lesson about important qualities young people should have, such as kindness and faith." Healing Waters also seamlessly connected participants and their families with other agencies in the Denver area upon developing a relationship with them and learning about their needs. 

Healing Waters now has expanded its summer feeding operation by enlisting the help of smaller churches in the community.  He helped convince those smaller churches to become summer feeding sites, which would allow more children access to free summer meals.

All the great work initiated by Healing Waters Family Center began by attending an informational webinar on SFSP, just like the ones we're hosting this year in 2013 from now though the beginning of April. If you are interested, you can register to attend by clicking here.  If you are not able to attend the webinar, you can learn the same information by visiting the FNS webinars library page. Let the change in your community begin with you!
 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR OUR WEBINARS

May 15, 2012 -- By Jimmy Nguyen, Food and Nutrition Service
Last summer, my colleague Barbara Lopez and I traveled to South Dakota to document the great work two Native American Tribes were doing to feed their children during the summer months. Feeding children during the summer is crucial in fighting childhood hunger because children are out of school and are not getting the school breakfast and lunch they normally receive when in school.

The Cheyenne River Sioux and Rosebud Sioux Tribes both have long-running summer feeding programs that have helped many families in these tight-knit communities keep their children well fed and physically active. Watch the videos that we created from our trip below.
 

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe's summer feeding site in Eagle, Butte, South Dakota.
 

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe's summer feeding site in Mission, South Dakota
 

The first thing that struck me about South Dakota was the uninterrupted grassland stretching for miles in all directions. I had many opportunities traveling from Rapid City to the reservations to imagine what these prairies would have been like 200 years ago. Perhaps Sioux warriors would be tracking the large buffalo herds that used to roam the open grassland. Perhaps we would have been able to spot the pointed tops of temporary Lakota tipi dwellings on the horizon as the community followed the migratory buffalo herds.

Indeed this is most likely the romanticized imagery many people have of the Lakota Sioux. The current, less idealized imagery of life on the reservations we visited is of abject poverty. My visit to the Cheyenne River and Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservations helped to reconcile the two images. There were many families on both reservations who were living well below the poverty line. However, in my interactions with the Sioux people I found that they are still very proud people who look out for one another in their tight-knit communities. In my interviews with students, I found that they are very aware of the many problems in their community and yet they are hopeful for the future and have a quiet confidence that can only come from living in a strong community with a rich culture.

It was important for us to capture positive moments for our video in order to show that even seemingly insurmountable problems can be overcome by simple community actions that serve to inspire and nurture the next generation of leaders. We got images of a teenage drum group who played traditional Lakota songs taught by their Lakota language teacher. We captured video of children swimming at the community pool as part of the Youth Diabetes Program before they went next door to get a nutritious summer lunch that included a salad with bright pink radishes and a juicy plum. We interviewed a hard-working teenager employed at a summer feeding site through his community's summer youth work program. By teaching these young people about their culture, giving them work opportunities, and making sure they receive a nutritious meal every day, the Tribes are helping to ensure that the future will be brighter for their people.

Summer Food Service Program kicks-off at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valley
 

June 26, 2012 -- By Georgina Castillo, Public Affairs Specialist, FNS Southwest Region
As summer time begins, I think of children playing with their friends and having a great time as they enjoy their vacation from school. I am also very aware that some children may go hungry during the summer months. Fortunately for children in the Rio Grande Valley on June 1, Catholic Charities began their second year providing meals to children up to age 18 through USDA’s Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). Catholic Charities is now providing summer meals in Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties in South Texas.
 

USDA employee DeAdrian Maddox poses with girl during kick-off ceremony
 

Catholic Charities kicked-off the SFSP at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle on May 24. Attending the event were DeAdrian Maddox, USDA, Angela Olige, Texas Department of Agriculture assistant commissioner, Eddie Lucio Jr., Texas senator, Daniel E. Flores, bishop of the Diocese of Brownsville, San Juanita Sanchez, San Juan mayor, and local community organizations. During the kick-off, children from Idea Public School enjoyed a nutritious lunch and participated in various activities.

In Bishop Flores’ remarks to the audience, it was clear that he was happy to continue supporting the efforts of the federal, state and local community as they work together to provide children healthy meals during the summer. Catholic Charities partnered with local communities to make feeding sites available in rural areas and colonias.

 

The Summer Food Service Program is a federally funded program that is administered by the states in which they reimburse organizations for meals served to children during the summer months. Although USDA funds the summer program, local organizations make the program work by becoming sponsors that serve nutritious meals and snacks at schools, recreation centers, playgrounds, parks, churches, day camps, summer camps, housing projects, and Indian reservations.

As I saw the children eat their lunches in San Juan, I realized how important a role SFSP plays in reducing food insecurity. That’s why the Food and Nutrition Service continues to work every day with potential partners to close the gap.
 

April 2, 2012 -- By Jimmy Nguyen, Food and Nutrition Service

Most kids cannot wait for school to let out in June. However, for some parents, when school is out for summer, they have to worry about where their kids will get breakfast or lunch. USDA's Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) fills this summer meal gap for many low-income families. Local organizations all over the country participate in the SFSP and serve meals at schools, recreation centers, playgrounds, parks, churches, day camps, summer camps, housing projects, and Indian reservations.
 

Now you can advertise the summer food sites in your community by using our free Radio Public Service Announcements (PSAs). It's never too soon or late to start advertising summer meals. We have provided four PSAs to choose from and each of them are under 30 seconds. Two of the PSAs focus on recruiting summer meal sponsors and volunteers and the other two PSAs focus on letting families know where they can go to receive summer meals. Please download and then give one or all of the Summer Food PSAs to your local radio station to play for free.

• PSAs to recruit sponsors and volunteers to serve summer meals - #1 / #2
• PSAs to tell families where they can get free summer meals - #3 / #4

Click here to download the PSA transcripts  (Some radio stations will have their DJs read the PSA).

Now you may be asking, "How can I get my local radio station to play a PSA?" Well, here are some instructions that you can follow:

1. Look up radio stations in your area by going to radio-locator.com.

2. Pick some stations that you always listen to and contact their public affairs director or station.

3. Some stations post details about PSA submissions on their websites. However, if they don't, you can ask the station's public affairs staff the following questions:

a. How should I submit a PSA - via e-mail or regular mail?
b. What format should it be in?
c. Do you require the transcript?
d. Will one of your DJs read the PSA or will you just play the recording?
e. When will the PSA be aired and for how long?

4. Follow the radio station's instructions. If all goes well, sit back, relax, and listen for the Summer Food PSA to be played.

Contact getinvolved@fns.usda.gov if you have any further questions.
 

September 6, 2011 -- By Barbara Lopez, FNS Partnerships
With summer in full swing, my colleagues and I had the opportunity to visit summer feeding sites in Indian Country. Our journey landed us first at a Bureau of Indian Education school in Eagle Butte, South Dakota on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation. Eagle Butte is about 170 miles northeast of Rapid City, SD and home to a Seamless Summer site in full operation, serving over 200 kids daily breakfast and lunch.

Food Service Manager Stacie Lee has been
running Seamless Summer for 11 years.

Ms. Stacie Lee, the Food Service Manager at Eagle Butte, has been running the Seamless Summer Option through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) at the site for 11 years. The site is the largest in the area and with the USDA meals reimbursement, she is able to cover most of her expenses, “It practically pays for itself”, says Ms. Lee, “except it doesn't cover all salaries but it does pay for food, freight, storage. It may pay for one or two salaries”. Ms Lee adds, “The kids really inspire me to run this program.”
 

An Eagle Butte girl savors a healthy lunch at
the Eagle Butte feeding site.

During our visit, the kids enjoyed a healthy breakfast made up of an egg and cheese burrito, fruit, juice and milk. The lunch menu featured home-made pizza made with whole grain dough, tossed salad, fruit and milk. Overwhelming, the kids said their favorite part of the meal was the fruit option – plum.

Many of the kids joining in summer meals also participant in the Diabetes Prevention Program where the kids enjoy pool activities from 10 AM – 12 Noon, then join summer meals directly afterwards with the pool onsite at the Eagle Butte school.

 

As part of the Diabetes Prevention Program, kids enjoy two hours of swimming before lunch.
 

As part of our visit, a Native Youth Drum Circle honored us with traditional songs. The Drum Circle’s leader, Mr. Emmanuel Red Bear, is Eagle Butte’s Lakota Language teacher and plays an active role in developing youth following Lakota traditions. “These songs have been handed down to generation after generation pretty much the same melody, and the same beat. It’s good to know that these young guys can sing these kinds of songs. It makes me feel good to know that the culture isn't going to die out”.

Join us for our next visit as we head 150 miles south to Rosebud Sioux Tribe and learn about the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) at their site in Mission, South Dakota.

Cheyenne Eagle Butte School Drum Circle
made up of community youth play and sing traditional Lakota songs.

July 26, 2011 -- By Sara Gold, FNS Partnerships

Summer is in full swing, and it’s time for some healthy competition!  Around the country, local organizations from churches to community centers are busy serving meals to kids through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), a federally-funded program that provides free, nutritious meals and snacks to children in low-income areas throughout the summer months when school is not in session.  Although thousands of organizations operate this program, each site has different ideas about activities, volunteer recruiting, and outreach in both rural and urban settings to make sure no child goes hungry in the summer.

To help capture and share some of the creative and successful ways sites are managing the program, FNS is sponsoring "Food, Fun and Sun! Summer Food Service Program Story and Photo Contest.” We are looking for best practices that fit into four targeted categories. Winning entries will help us spread the word about programs that break down barriers with innovative methods.

Current SFSP Sponsors and Sites are eligible to enter. We’re looking for examples of successful programs that fit into any of these targeted categories:
1. Recruiting and using volunteers to support SFSP
2. Serving meals to older children (ages 12-18)
3. Programs that serve meals in rural areas
4. Programs that are extremely creative

Contest submissions should be in the form of a 200-400 word narrative (your story) accompanied by two photos. Finalists will be posted on the contest website where a public vote will determine Winners and Honorable Mentions. Winners will be honored and recognized in a variety of ways on a National stage.
 
Food, Fun and Sun! Summer Food Service Program Story and Photo Contest starts July 20 and submissions will be accepted through August 20, 2011.
 
For contest rules, details, and to submit your entry, visit: http://challenge.gov/USDA/195-food-fun-and-sun-story-and-photo-challenge.

For more information on the Summer Food Service Program, visit: www.summerfood.usda.gov.
Good luck, and may the best programs win!

 

FNS staffers Gretchen Ruethling, Sara Gold, and Emily Buckham Buday volunteer to help
distribute DC summer meal site information around Washington DC. This is their story.
 

June 21, 2011 -- By Emily Buckham Buday, FNS Outreach
It’s here! Today is the first day of summer. To children this often means sleeping in, pool parties, ice cream, and a summer vacation. But to many children, it also means hunger. That’s where the USDA Summer Food Service Program comes in, to help reach children, who would normally receive meals from the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program during the regular school year, with nutritious meals while school is out.
 

We, at the Food and Nutrition Service, have offered toolkits, guides, templates, webinars, and
a lot of other outreach materials, encouraging community organizations and individuals to
conduct outreach and walk their communities to
let people know about summer meals for kids. We continually reiterate how important it is to do local outreach, but we sometimes find ourselves removed from that type of effort here at the National level.

Fortunate for us, on Saturday, June 18, 2011, DC Hunger Solutions, founded by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), launched the first ever, “Washington DC Summer Food Service Program Outreach Day” in an effort to increase awareness of and participation in the DC Free Summer Meals programs. 

In Minnesota, the Minnesota Vikings football team visit elementary schools right before school lets out to promote the Summer Food Service Program in their communities. 

DC Hunger Solutions asked for volunteers to help distribute posters, fliers, and cards with summer meal site information all over the city. This seemed like a great opportunity to get involved and really do some of the outreach that we often encourage others to do.

Three of us from the Food and Nutrition Service Office of Strategic Initiatives, Partnerships and Outreach, volunteered our time on Saturday to help at the local level. Groups all over the city teamed up and spread out to distribute fliers in English, Spanish, and Amharic (an Ethiopian language). We distributed fliers and posters to churches, community centers, laundry mats, cleaners, corner stores, markets, housing projects, gas stations, and other locations. It felt good to think that after just a few hours of our time on Saturday this information could reach a family or child that didn’t know about this opportunity. It felt good to know that with just a few hours on Saturday, we helped feed more hungry children this summer.
 

Felicia Owusu of DC Hunger Solutions shows how
easy it can be to find a summer site in
DC using your cell phone. 

Last year, DC topped the charts for the number of children fed meals in the summer compared to the number reached during the regular school year. The 2011 FRAC Report, “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation”, showed that in the summer of 2010, DC was feeding slightly over 80% of children receiving meals during the school year. Although DC is leading the country in feeding children during the summer, DC Hunger Solutions knows there are still more children that need meals. Hopefully this additional outreach effort will help reach more children this summer.

If you have volunteer opportunities and need help finding volunteers, go to www.serve.gov/endhunger and post your opportunities.

If you want to volunteer in your community, visit www.serve.gov/endhunger and find an opportunity near you.

To find a summer site near you, call the National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3-HUNGRY or 1-877-8-HAMBRE. We hope to see you next year on outreach day.

June 14, 2011 -- As summer draws near, we know that it is time to shift our Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) outreach emphasis from recruiting new sites and sponsors to letting families and children know where to go for free, nutritious meals.  Below are two ways to spread the word about your Summer Food site.

1. Register Your Feeding Site for the National Hunger Hotline:

The National Hunger Hotline
(1-866-3-Hungry), answers calls from people around the country looking for food assistance. Registering SFSP sites with the Clearinghouse ensures that Hotline operators have access to the best information to steer more kids to sites, and it helps sites make use of all available outreach methods.

Make sure you register your summer feeding site so
more kids can eat and smile all summer long.

Visit: http://beta.whyhunger.org/NHCjoin to register your site. 

If you are a sponsor organization with multiple feeding sites, please fill out the template below to list all of your feeding sites to nhc@whyhunger.org. 
Click here to download template.

If you have questions about the Hotline or need help registering, please email nhc@whyhunger.org or call the Hotline at 1-866-3-HUNGRY.

2. Use Serve.Gov to Recruit Volunteers to Help Your Summer Site:

We know that many summer sponsors and sites look for volunteers to help support their programs.  The new hunger-themed volunteer website www.serve.gov/endhunger, allows for opportunities to be posted as well as allowing volunteers to search for opportunities. We encourage Summer Food Service Program Sponsors and Sites to register their volunteer opportunities with www.serve.gov/endhunger.

Thank you for the work that you do each summer to feed hungry kids!

The SNAP Prescreening Tool can be found in Spanish here.

The SNAP Retailer Locator can be accessed in Spanish here.

Find healthy, low-cost recipes from SNAP-Ed Recipe Finder in Spanish here.

Download SNAP radio PSAs in Spanish here.