Hundreds of Georgia children will get free lunches this summer through a nutritional initiative by Action Ministries.
The Atlanta-based nonprofit launched "Smart Lunch, Smart Kid," a program that will rely heavily on volunteers to buy, make, bag and deliver lunches five days a week.
The program has set an ambitious goal of serving more than 100,000 meals in several cities, including Atlanta, Fayetteville, Gainesville and Tucker. Action Ministries has identified those communities with the greatest need and distribution sites. Referrals will come from churches, schools and social workers.
Volunteers will also mentor children through an education enrichment program.
"Nutrition is critical to having healthy children," said John R. Moeller Jr., president and CEO of Action Ministries. "We have a lot of children and their parents who are wondering where their next healthy meal will come from."
He said the program starts on May 29 and will run until the school year begins. Volunteers, he said, will undergo training to participate in the program.
Mark Hellman, executive director of the program, said children who receive free or reduced-priced lunches in school can qualify for the program. The bagged lunches will include a sandwich, a snack, fruit and juice or bottled water.
Moeller said nearly $100,000 of the $200,000 needed to operate the program through the summer break has been raised, but he expects to meet the goal. Gas South, one of the sponsors, contributed $10,000 and will donate 10,000 paper bags.
More than one out of every six children in the United States lives in a household that lacks adequate food, according to Chicago-based Feeding America, a hunger-relief charity.
Georgia is not immune. In 2009, Georgia had a child food insecurity rate of 27.9 percent, higher than the national rate of 23.2 percent. This means that at some point during that year, that percentage of Georgia children did not know when they would get their next meal.
"It's tragic that anyone has to go hungry," said Ross Fraser, a spokesman for Feeding America. "We're especially concerned if a child is undernourished for even a brief period of time. Researchers have found that malnutrition can literally change the architecture of a child's brain. It's a tragedy in the making."
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