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For kids who receive school meals, the summer months can be the hungriest time of year.

This year promises to be different, thanks to newly expanded guidelines that will give school districts and community organizations the flexibility to offer non-congregate meal service in many more rural communities.

To support the rollout of this effort, No Kid Hungry Georgia recently announced over $158,000 in grants to help ten organizations across the state reach even more kids with summer meals.

For many children, free and reduced-price school meals can be a lifeline that ensures reliable access to nutrition during the school year.

When schools close for the summer, however, these meals disappear, and families struggle from the strain on already tight budgets. This can be particularly true for rural families.

In a recent No Kid Hungry survey of rural families, parents reported on the unique hardships they faced during the summer when school is out. More than half of rural families say they don’t have enough money for food during the summer.

Over 80% spend more on groceries when their children are out of school for the summer–an average of $168 more each month.

Summer meal programs were designed to provide healthy meals during summer vacation but have historically only reached a fraction of the kids who need them due to barriers like transportation, fuel costs, extreme weather, and parents’ work schedules. In rural areas, where kids often live many miles from their closest meal site, these challenges have been particularly stark.

“There’s long been a huge gap between the number of kids getting meals in the summertime and the kids who really need them – particularly in rural communities. New flexibilities for summer meals in rural communities means that no longer has to be the case,” said Eleni Towns, director, No Kid Hungry State Campaigns.

“We’re excited to support these schools and community groups in offering summer meals in ways that work for their community – like allowing families to pick up multiple meals at a time or dropping off meals in convenient locations within communities.”

No Kid Hungry’s grant funding supports the adaptations needed to reach as many kids as possible with summer meals, including meal delivery, refrigeration and transportation costs. The following school districts and community organizations received grants in Georgia:

• Baldwin School District
• Bartow County School Nutrition
• Bulloch County Schools
• Colquitt County Board of Education
• Echols County Schools
• Sumter County Schools
• Tift County Schools
• Troup County Schools
• Turner County School District
• YMCA OF Rome and Floyd County

No Kid Hungry is also helping families find summer meals near them through the Free Meals Finder map and texting hotline. Parents and caregivers can text the word “FOOD” (or “COMIDA”) to 304-304 to find sites in their neighborhood.

For those wanting meals for a child or children call the TCSS nutrition office ahead of time at 706-883-1588. LaGrange and Hogansville pickups are on Mondays, and orders must be called in by the Wednesday before. West Point pickups are on Wednesday and must be called in by the Friday before.  

While TCSS is providing the meals, the summer meals are for any child up to 18 years old. The children do not need to be enrolled in a Troup County school.

This program comes on the heels of Troup Schools’ announcement in May that all school meals will be free starting in August.