When School Lunch Goes on Summer Vacation...

...what happens to the nation's hungry children?

This question will become increasingly relevent over the next few weeks as schools across the country begin to close down for summer recess.  Community leaders and anti-hunger advocates are beginning to worry about what students who participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) will do now that their free lunch is no longer available.

According to statistics provided by the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service division, in 2008 18.5 million children in the United States received free or reduced price lunch as part of the NSLP.  This represents 60 percent of the program 's 31 million participants.  For many children, these meals represent the main source of nutrition in their young lives. 

(Side note: While reading through the statistics linked to above I noticed that Tennessee has seen a 25 percent drop in participation in the NSLP from March 2008 to March 2009.  As I reported a couple weeks ago, Tennesee has one of the highest rates of childhood food insecurity in the nation.  Does anyone else see a problem with this?)

With a difficult economic climate expected to continue through the summer, community leaders are anticipating an even greater demand for summer meals than in recent years.  While some organizations are operating summer feeding programs with grant money raised from private foundations, others are taking advantage of government programs designed to fill the hunger-gap between when school ends in the summer and opens back up in the fall.

The USDA offers a program that allows school districts already participating in the NSLP or School Breakfast Program to apply for the agency's Seamless Summer Option.  This program is designed to offer a streamlined approach to feeding hungry children in communities throughout the country.  Once an application to become a part of the Seamless Summer Option is approved through a governing state agency, school districts are able to serve meals free of charge to children, 18 years and under, from low-income areas.

In addition to the Seamless Summer Option, USDA offers the more traditional Summer Food Service Program which is the "single largest Federal resource available for local organizations that want to combine a feeding program with a summer activity program for children."  This program, like the Seamless Summer Option, seeks to feed nutritious meals to low-income children under 18 years old.  The difference is that it is open to any organization operating a summer program for children.

While I am pleased to see so many programs offered to stave off child hunger during the summer months, I worry that some children (particularly in small school districts/rural areas) may not have access to these programs.

Does anyone out there have any stories/examples of what communities near you do to help feed hungry children when school lets out?

(Photo credit: StephMDSC on Flickr)