DEL.ICIO.USHungry kids get nutritious summer meals for free
School systems offer breakfast, lunch and healthy snacks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
More than 100 civic-minded Georgia school districts are standing in the gap to help keep kids from going hungry during the summer.
Breakfast, lunch and healthy snacks are being served at thousands of public, private and military-based schools and their community partners thanks to the Seamless Summer Option feeding program, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Phil Skinner/pskinner@ajc.com
Scott Reed eats lunch provided by Marietta City Schools at Walton Village’s Adventure Camp in Marietta.
Phil Skinner/pskinner@ajc.com
Samaria Smith digs into a sandwich at Walton Village’s Adventure Camp.
Phil Skinner/pskinner@ajc.com
Breakfast, lunch and healthy snacks are being served at thousands of public, private and military-based schools and their community partners.
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The program helps schools get free nutritious meals to needy students whether they are at summer school or summer camp.
“The intention is to provide meals for low-income children where poor economic conditions exist,” said Judieth Hunt, a grant program consultant with the state Department of Education. “Any of our school districts can participate.”
When pickings are slim in kitchen cupboards, Marietta City Schools offers breakfast and lunch at Walton Village apartments to students for free.
It’s the district’s way of serving the poor during summer break.
Boxes of Cocoa Puffs and cartons of apple juice were doled out one day this week to hungry kids in a buffet line outside the Walton Village community center. Dorothy Latimer, 77, a retired beautician who minds her grandkids during summer break, brought three antsy pre-schoolers to eat. She counts on the free weekday meals to keep their bellies full.
“I live on a fixed income of $667 a month,” said Latimer, who gave up meat because it got too expensive. “I might not be able to give them a balanced diet like they get over here.”
Marietta Schools is not the only local summer samaritan.
At Fulton County Schools, seamless summer meals come without strings. Low-income children, 18 and under, can just show up hungry at one of 15 summer school locations, pop in the front office and ask to eat lunch — even if they are not attending summer classes. About 40 percent of Fulton’s 88,400 students qualified for free or discounted meals last school year.
“They are our children — we don’t turn away any student, we don’t ask for identification,” said Susan Hale, Fulton Schools spokeswoman. “This helps them to stay healthy so they can come back to the school ready to learn.”
Fulton’s free lunch guests are asked to mind their manners while they dine, not to run through the hallways or mill about after they finish, so summer school is not disrupted.
According to state nutrition officials, only six metro Atlanta area districts offer the meals: Fulton, Clayton, Cherokee, DeKalb, Douglas and Marietta.
Poverty, however, is growing in metro Atlanta. About 18 percent of related children under 18 live below the poverty level in Georgia, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The metro Atlanta area experienced a 28.7 percent jump in poverty overall between 2000 and 2003.
Cobb Schools, a Seamless Summer participant for two years, expanded its feeding program from 13 sites to 17 in the economic downturn expecting more mouths to feed. The district serves about 1,500 free meals. Students, their siblings and friends are welcome to eat breakfast at the schools on weekdays through June 25.
“We can do our part to be sure kids get at least one good meal a day,” said Sherry Coleman, Cobb Schools’ food and nutrition supervisor. “We track the meals and we are able to receive reimbursement just as we would do during the normal school day.”
Marietta Schools, five-year veterans of Seamless Summer, also expanded its offerings from 17 to 21 sites including camps, churches and community centers to better serve struggling families. About 63 percent of its 8,000 students are considered poor and qualify for free or discounted meals. The summer feeding program runs through July 24.
For rising fifth-grader Tychyna Sweat, standing in line at Walton Village brings back fond memories of school lunches. She gets the usual, cereal for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch and then burns off the calories on the playground of her apartment complex.
“It’s like a little cafeteria,” she said.
More information
The Seamless Summer Option program, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, helps schools and their community partners feed poor children.
The program offers free meals to students 18 and younger. Meals are mainly served in school cafeterias and community sites in high poverty areas.
The USDA reimburses schools for meal expenses.
Seamless Summer meals served statewide in 2008:
• 1.38 million breakfasts
• 2.27 million lunches
• 247,636 snacks
• Seamless Summer meals served in metro Atlanta’s participating districts: 61, 262
• Current Seamless Summer participants: 2,038
Registration is required to participate in Seamless Summer Option.
For more information, visit this Web site or contact the state nutrition office at 404-651-9085.
Source: State Department of Education.
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