Kids and teens in Milton and Colchester eat free at summer programs. Photo courtesy of Hunger Free Vermont
Children are enjoying free summer meals and snacks at 270 sites across Vermont, thanks to a partnership between Hunger Free Vermont and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The number of summer meal sites has grown from 141 programs in 2009, but reaches only 30 percent of children who qualify for free and reduced lunches during the school year.
Vermont is ranked fourth in the nation for utilization of the summer meal program for children, up from fifth last year, according to the South Burlington-based nonprofit, Hunger Free Vermont.
The sites in Vermont this summer are expected to serve about 420,000 meals and snacks.
Anore Horton, nutrition initiatives director for Hunger Free Vermont, said during the summer of 2009, a total of 247,801 meals and snacks were fed to an average of 4,277 children ages 18 and under.
With the expansion to 267 summer meal sites last summer, 419,039 meals and snacks were fed to an average of 7,420 children 18 and under, Horton said.
“Even though the number of low-income children enrolled in school meal programs increased by 22 percent during this period, the expansion in summer meals served was higher than this, and still is not meeting the need,” said Horton.
The number of Vermont students who qualify for nutrition help is growing — from 33 percent in the 2008-09 school year (about 31,000 students), to 42.5 percent (38,000 students) in the 2014-15 school year, according to Hunger Free Vermont.
“It is both an indication that the 2008 recession is far from over for Vermont families, and that our numbers of low-income students has grown by 22 percent in the past six years according to this metric,” Horton said.
Summer meal programs are difficult to maintain in small, rural communities in Vermont where there is a lack of transportation, as well as resources for summer enrichment programming, which the summer meal sites are linked with — from libraries to churches to summer pool programs.
Derrick Lambert, child nutrition initiatives manager for Hunger Free Vermont, said, “We are always looking for opportunities to connect meals to activities that already attract children.”
The medical community, he said, has “shown great interest in helping expand access to summer nutrition for children.”
Two Northeast Kingdom hospitals, the North Country Hospital in Newport, and Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury, host or prepare meals for children in the summer. Hunger Free Vermont would like to see this model expanded to other hospitals around the state.
Lambert said rural areas “struggle the most to maintain sustainable summer meal sites due to the relatively small numbers of children they serve.”
“This isn’t because the need isn’t there, but because the federal funding mechanism — which operates on a per-meal basis — favors large urban areas where many children may participate,” said Lambert.
Alida Duncan, development and marketing director for Hunger Free Vermont, said proper nutrition is critical to helping children retain what they’ve learned over the summer.
Summer meals are available around the state in schools, churches, teen centers, hospitals, community pools, park and recreation programs, and summer camps.
Hunger Free Vermont partners with the Vermont Agency of Education Child Nutrition Programs to identify high-need communities that lack summer meal programs.
A list of summer meal sites in Vermont can be seen here.
That list and information can also be accessed by texting FOOD to 877-877 or by calling 211.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Summer nutrition programs expand to more children.