Summer can be the hungriest time of year for many low-income families. When schools close, students no longer get school meals, and families struggle to put food on the table. Families struggling to make ends meet are forced to make unthinkable decisions between whether to buy a bag of groceries or pay rent, whether to pay the electric bill or buy enough food. This places a huge burden on children who deserve to be carefree and healthy in order to succeed and revel in their recess.
Luckily, No Kid Hungry has set out to bring some peace of mind to those kids. They have implemented a texting hotline that provides information about when and where free summer meals will be served in any given area. By texting “FOOD” to 877877, families in need will receive a message with the locations closest to them, serving free summer meals by providing their zip code. Spanish speakers are also able to text “COMIDA” to the same number. This information is also accessible by dialing the hunger hotline: 866-348-6479.
Last year, No Kid Hungry’s efforts served 177 million free meals at 47,816 sites across the U.S. through the Summer Food Service Program and they hope to reach many more this year. If your family does not need this service please consider sharing this with your friends and those in your community who may be struggling to put food on the table this summer.
This is an issue in our town. In fact our school kitchen opens up in the summer to serve meals to the kids. It’s very sad
I love this program. I will be passing on this info to some people I know. Thanks for the info.
Love this program. We volunteer at the food bank occasionally and know there are a lot of hungry kids in our area.
This is so important! Childhood hungry just breaks my heart. We need to do everything we can to prevent it.
What an AMAZING program! Thank you for sharing that – I’ll be sure to share with my friends and family too.
It is really a thoughtful issue at many places and this texting system is a right way to help people.