What's This?

The summer food program is a free meal service program for children living in certain communities in the United States. School districts and other state agencies around the country coordinate with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The program is intended to make sure children have plenty to eat during the summer months when those who would normally be participating in the school lunch program don't have access to those meals.

The USDA reimburses the agencies that provide nutritionally-adequate meals, and the program must be re-authorized every five years by Congress.

History and Statistics

The program was created in 1968 as a pilot program to provide food for students when school was out of session.

According to the Summer Food Service program's table of statistics, the program served 132 million meals last year at over 34,000 sites around the country.

Important Information for Parents

The USDA describes the types of sites that provide meals(some sites include breakfast) on their website:

  • Open Sites: At these sites, all children eat free in communities where at least 50 percent of the children are eligible for free or reduced meals at school.
     
  • Restricted open sites are those places that meet the "open site" criteria, but are restricted at a later date due to safety concerns, control, or security reasons.
     
  • Closed enrolled sites may be in any community for an enrolled group of low-income children and meets the "50 percent" criteria explained above. It excludes summer academic schools.
     
  • Migrant sites serve children of migrant families.
     
  • Camps: residential or non-residential camps

Current News about the Program, and Legislation That Supports It

Last month, Katie Couric highlighted current challenges of the meal program. These challenges include getting children to meal sites, and funding issues. From her newscast last month:

"The Center for American Progress reports that nearly 20 million children get free or reduced-price lunch at school. But only one in six of them will receive subsidized meals this summer."

Feeding America is a non-profit organization whose mission is to network with food banks to feed the hungry, and encourage success in the battle against the nation's hunger. On their blog, the group describes some of the problems as Congress makes decisions about Child Nutrition Reauthorization.

Additional Resources: