When schools close for the summer, the reality is that students who depend on cafeteria food and stuck in need of meals. Food Gatherers has a summer program that will help ensure kids, teens, and even young adults in need, who are enrolled in an educational program, get free meals.
"The Summer Food Service Program was created in 1968 to help provide meals for children when school was not in session. Food Gatherers first sponsored the Summer Food Service Program in our community in 2009,“ said LeRonica Roberts, Community Food Programs Coordinator at Food Gatherers.
Meals are available in 23 locations throughout Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Belleville, and Whitmore Lake between June 20 and August 19.
Locations are open Monday through Friday at various times of the day; some locations offer Saturday pickup. Families are able to choose a location and time that works best for them to pick up several meals at a time.
"When the 2022 program started, we were offering only congregate meals, where children were required to eat the meal on-site, but the Keep Kids Fed Act, which was signed into law on June 29, extended the pandemic-era waivers that had allowed summer feeding programs like SFSP to use a "grab-and-go" model to deliver food to kids in the summer months,“ said Roberts. "Those waivers were going to end on June 30. It's still too early in the summer to determine if there will be an increase over previous summers.”
This initiative makes a big difference in Food Gatherers ability to feed kids and teens this summer.
"The meals are available to everyone 18 years or younger or persons up to 26 years of age who are enrolled in an educational program that is recognized by a state or local public educational agency. Parents or children can pick up the meals. The children do not have to be present for parents to pick up meals," Roberts said.
