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Summer Food Service Programs: Ensuring Ohio Children Don’t
Go Hungry
By U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown
Guest Column
With so many families struggling to make ends meet, many
Ohio children are living in “food insecure” households,
where parents don’t always have the resources to provide
enough healthy food for their families.
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During the 2012-2013 school year, 630,000 Ohio children
daily received free or reduced-priced school lunches through
the National School Lunch Program, ensuring their healthy
development and easing the burden on their families. When
schools close for summer, however, these families are left
wondering how to continue to provide meals for their
children. Fortunately, through the Summer Food Service
Program, children can receive breakfast, lunch, or a snack
at sites across Ohio.
The Summer Food Service Program, a joint venture of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Ohio Department of
Education, provides a critical resource to families who need
assistance feeding their children but many families don’t
know it’s available. Right now, these sites are
underutilized.
Last summer, only 66,000 Ohio children daily participated in
the program, compared to the hundreds of thousands who do so
during the school year. Food security doesn’t increase
simply because it is summer. What this means is that
children are going without. And that is unacceptable.
If you find that your children need meal assistance, I urge
you to participate in this program. You can also be a
resource to your friends and neighbors, helping raise
awareness about the nearly 1,700 summer camps, schools,
churches, synagogues, pools and recreation centers, and
other organizations that host Summer Feeding Program sites
in Ohio.
Healthy, well-fed children are essential to a strong
community and we must ensure that children have the
resources they need to thrive both while during the
school-year and on summer break.
To find a Summer Food Service Program in your county, please
visit
https://oh.cnpcares.com/summer/SfspFoodServByCnty.asp.
Families can also call the National Hunger Hotline at
1-866-3HUNGRY for assistance in English and 1-877-8HAMBRE
for assistance in Spanish.
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