Colorado’s Summer Meals Program is seeking sponsors, sites and state partners to continue to ensure that Colorado children and teenagers can access healthy meals during the summer break. Last summer in Colorado, 83 sponsors at 647 sites served more than 1.6 million summer meals through the Summer Meals Pro- gram, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered by the Colorado Department of Education’s (CDE) School Nutrition Unit.
During the summer of 2024, Colorado will provide electronic benefits to eligible families through the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program in addition to supporting families through the Summer Meals Program. Meals are free to all kids and teens 18 years and younger. In rural locations, some meals may be taken home to eat. Parents do not need to apply to the program for their children to get free summer meals.
Recent data show that in 17% of Colorado households with children, families faced economic challenges in providing sufficient food for their children and 44 percent struggled to pay household expenses, including groceries.
“Colorado is providing consistent access to critical nutrition during the school year through school meals with expanded participation through the Healthy School Meals for All program, but our students face food instability during the summer months,” said Hunger Free Colorado CEO Marc Jacobson. “The Summer Meals Program fills a critical gap in providing nutritious meals during the months where children need it most.”
Parents and youth can find summer meal sites by texting “FOOD” or “COMIDA” to 304-304 or visiting www.kidsfoodfinder.org. Meals served follow USDA nutrition guidelines. Eligible families with school-aged children could receive $40 per month per child during the summer months. Funds to purchase groceries are placed on EBT cards.
The CDE, the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger and Hunger Free Colorado are working together to increase the number of children receiving summer meals by encouraging community-serving organizations (including camps; local, municipal, county or state governments; public or private college or universities participating in national youth sports programs; and private nonprofit organizations) to serve as Summer Meals Program sites. Organizations interested in serving as sponsors or state partners can visit the CDE’s Become a Sponsor webpage.
“Every child should be able to access nutritious food when school is out of session, and the Colorado Department of Education, along with program sponsors and sites, strives to ensure that’s possible across the state,” said Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger Impact Director Justice Onwordi.
Organizations that can administer the Summer Meals Program include schools, nonprofit organizations, government entities, camps, universities, and community and faith-based organizations.
To learn more about the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger, visit endhungerco.org.
To learn more about Hunger Free Colorado, visit HungerFreeColorado.org.