Food and Fun
Monday, June 26, 2006
By: Project Bread

During the summer months, Project Bread combines food with fun for the state's most vulnerable children.

Summer is here! For thousands of children, the end of school means the end of book reports and spelling tests, and the end of school breakfast and lunch — their most reliable source of nutrition.

These low-income children are at risk for hunger during the long summer months — typically a time of increased growth — and of returning to school in September malnourished and struggling to learn.

Over the years, Project Bread has met with local groups to gain a better understanding of why only 22 percent of students — one child in five who qualifies for school meals — takes advantage of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). This nutritional program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides federal money for food for low-income children at schools, parks, public pools, neighborhood centers, and other local programs.

What we found was heartbreaking: most parents do not know about the programs.

Parents whose children did attend these programs gave them rave reviews. What they particularly liked was a free neighborhood program that provides a safe place to play indoor and outdoor games and that combines nutritious food with fun. A child, who was sitting in front of the television set on a gorgeous day, is now playing outside with his friends in a safe environment, getting a healthy meal and snack. It’s a win-win-win for children, working parents, and educators in the fall!

So how do we get the word out? In addition to placing radio and TV public service announcements, Project Bread is working with school districts to put program information into the mailings that go out with the school report cards. We also help some programs by providing funds for signage so that parents and kids can easily identify where a program is being held.

Our most significant intervention, however, is to strengthen the core of these programs so that word will travel quickly from parent to parent at the grassroots level. For this, Project Bread has developed SFSP Incentive Grants to expand current summer programs and to add new ones in those communities hardest hit by hunger. Our strategy is to help program directors combine food with fun in a safe environment that will attract the most hungry kids.

Here’s how it works: before the summer begins, Project Bread distributes grants to schools and local civic organizations that want to develop a summer food-and-fun program or that want to improve educational and physical activity at an existing meals program. Grants are provided for programs that need to acquire food storage and preparation equipment to aid in providing meals . . . or that need sports, books, or arts and crafts equipment to add the fun and learning to an existing meals program — whatever it takes to enrich the programming and expand the number of hungry children served!

This June, Project Bread gave $308,225 in grants to develop 52 summer food-and-fun programs across the Bay State. We’re also working to improve the nutritional content of the meals that are served at the locations. For example, Project Bread is helping food service directors in ten cities purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables from farmers in the area — bringing money back into the community. Fresh produce is often expensive and hard to obtain in low-income neighborhoods. This is part of our ongoing work to improve access to fresh strawberries, apples, carrots, corn, and other produce for low-income children. Since 2002, we’ve been able to provide $822,299 in grants, derived from a litigation settlement, to 29 low-income communities across the state over the summer. Through the resulting programming expansion, an additional 203,198 meals have been served to hungry kids during the summer.

When children have a safe, fun place to eat well, the word gets out. By investing in SFSP, Project Bread makes it possible for lowincome children to avoid hunger, eat more nutritiously, stay active, enjoy their friendships, and return to school ready to learn.

To find out where summer meals are served in your community, call Project Bread's FoodSource Hotline at 1-800-645-8333 or visit www.projectbread.org/summerfood. To help support over 670
Summer Meals Programs, please visit www.projectbread.org/donate.