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Schools
serving summer meals to needy children
July 8, 2009
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
School’s
out, but fortunately the lunch lady didn’t go on vacation.
That’s because, despite millions of meals served during
the school year to children from low-income households, those
same children may be at risk of going hungry over summer break.
In North Carolina and across the U.S., that’s where
the national Summer Food Service Program, or SFSP, comes in.
Since 1968, the program has provided breakfast, lunch and
snacks to needy children in low-income areas when they are
not in school. More than 30 counties in our state participate,
including Wake, Durham, Mecklenburg and Gaston.
Under the guidance of the Child Nutrition Department of the
Wake County Public School System, for example, more than 49,000
children are participating in the SFSP this summer.
Locations include parks, schools, camps, churches and other
sites.
But after 40 years of operation, the program still doesn’t
reach every hungry child.
“Access is an issue, especially in rural areas,”
said Cynthia Ervin, SFSP coordinator for the Division of Public
Health in the North Carolina Department of Health and Human
Services.
That’s why state leaders are touting collaboration as
a key strategy to extend nutrition services to as many kids
as possible.
The Wake County Public School System Child Nutrition Program
is one success story, having increased by 200 percent the
number of children participating in the SFSP in Wake County
during the past five years.
The school system was honored in an award ceremony late last
month at the Poe Center for Health Education, a community
partner serving summer meals to children as part of its Healthy
Habits Camp in Raleigh. The ceremony was attended by N.C.
Department of Health and Human Services secretary Lanier M.
Cansler and Dr. Janey Thornton, Deputy Under Secretary for
Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services at the U.S. Department
of Agriculture.
“We should recognize that even in bad budget times,
good things are happening,” said Cansler.
“When we work together, we can accomplish positive things.
When we work in silos, it’s harder to get things done.”
The Wake school system is also partnering with Food Bank of
Central and Eastern North Carolina. The nonprofit organization
is feeding more than 400 children in rural parts of the state
at approved sites where kids can walk to get breakfast and
lunch.
Between 200 and 400 additional sites are awaiting approvals,
according to J. Caprice Brown, outreach, evaluations and programs
manager at the food bank.
The summer feeding initiative is new for the food bank, which
in general has seen a 50 percent to 60 percent increase in
number of clients served.
“This has been a record year in the amount of food we
have distributed,” said Peter Werbicki, president and
CEO of the food bank.
Collaboration among child nutrition advocates is also a top
priority for USDA Deputy Under Secretary Thornton on the federal
level.
Thornton, who was appointed by President Obama in April to
lead the USDA’s 15 nutrition assistance programs, wants
to end child hunger by 2015. She told me that coordinating
the nation’s child nutrition advocacy groups to focus
on select, mutual goals is one of her aims.
“We need to work on the federal, state and local levels,”
said Thornton. “We’re here to make change, not
for change’s sake but to make things better.”
The Summer Food Service Program is helping folks get through
some tough times. North Carolina is one good example of how,
working together, school system administrators, nonprofits
and government can accomplish more to help those in need.
Suzanne
Havala Hobbs is a licensed, registered dietitian and clinical
associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and
Management and the Department of Nutrition in the UNC Gillings
School of Global Public Health. Send questions and comments
to suzanne@onthetable.net.
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