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HOUSTON …This summer, Houston Food Bank will once again connect children ages 18 and younger and enrolled students with disabilities up to age 21 with healthy, no-cost summer meals. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is a U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition program administered in Texas by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). For the children who rely on school meals during the academic year, these meals offer a source of good nutrition when school is out for the long summer vacation.
Through SFSP, Houston Food Bank is projected to serve about 800,000 meals – or 10,000 meals a day – via 158 sites total throughout the course of summer programming.
“Nearly two million food-insecure children who live in Texas lack consistent access to nutritious food to fuel a healthy life,” says Jourdan Stansberry, senior manager of Education Programs for Houston Food Bank. “In order to address this issue, the Houston Food Bank distributes meals to children through community partners during both the school year and summer. The Summer Food Service Program begins on June 2.”
This year, in addition to the congregate feeding sites, Houston Food Bank is operating two rural feeding locations at Sealy Christian Pantry in Sealy and Faith Mission WIC in Brenham.
Any child from the community can receive a meal at any of the food bank’s participating sites.
In contrast to congregate feeding locations where kids dine together, the noncongragate model allows children to take meals off-site to eat elsewhere, such as home. This option is primarily available to rural areas as determined by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Houston Food Bank’s noncongregate model is grab-and-go, five-day bundled meal pick up at the participating locations. We hope that operating summer food service models such as this will increase access to families who may face barriers in trying to reach congregate feeding sites on a daily basis. Noncongregate sites may require parent/guardian to provide proof of school enrollment if picking up meals without their child or children present. Documents such as report cards, school enrollment letters or even birth certificates would suffice.
Houston Food Bank is one of the non-profit organizations partnering with TDA to serve meals across Texas. Families are encouraged to use these tools to find a meal site in their area:
• Call Houston Food Bank at 713-223-3700 or email kidscafe@houstonfoodbank.
org
•Visit https://www. houstonfoodbank.org/ our-programs/kids-cafe/ to find locations that Houston Food Bank specifically services
• Call 2-1-1 to speak to a live operator
• Utilize the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Summer Meal Site Map to locate meals at other sites: https://squaremeals. org/ Programs/ Summe r- Mea l - P rograms/ Summer- Meal Site-Maphttps://squaremeals. org/ Programs/ Summer-Meal-Programs/ Summer-Meal-Site-Map Organizations partner with TDA to serve meals in areas where more than 50-percent of children are eligible for free or reduced- price meals in the National School Lunch Program. Eligible sponsoring organizations include schools, faith-based groups, nonprofit summer camps, government agencies and other tax-exempt organizations. All meal sites must be sponsored by an organization that has a contract with TDA.
Summer meal sites help children succeed by providing the nourishment they need to return to school in the fall ready to thrive.
For more information on Houston Food Bank and its programs, please visit www. HoustonFoodBank.org.
