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Many kids look forward to summer vacation, but for many Oklahoma children, summer means inconsistent and unreliable access to meals. Summer can be a time of stress when kids don't have access to school lunch and breakfast.
Children should never have to worry about where their food is going to come from when they are trying to enjoy their summer vacation. The Oklahoma Food Banks fill this summer meal gap for more than 4,000 children each weekday at 100 summer feeding sites across the state. Summer feeding – also known as the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) – was created to ensure children from low-income areas could continue to receive meals during long school vacations. These sites provide free, nutritious, and well-balanced meals to children under 18 during the summer months.
You can help ensure programs like SFSP continue to provide for food insecure children by lending your voice!
This year Congress will decide how to fund child nutrition programs such as SFSP through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act also known as the Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR). The Oklahoma Food Banks are asking you to join us in fighting childhood hunger in our state by signing a letter to Congress.
To read and sign your organization on to the letter click here.
To read and send a letter as an individual advocate click here.
To provide you with more information, CNR occurs once every five years and encompasses programs such as:
- The National School Lunch & Breakfast Programs (provides school meals to 436,000 low-income Oklahoma public school students)
- Child & Adult Care Food Program (provides after school snacks and meals to 52,000 Oklahoma participants)
- Summer Food Service Program (bridges the nutrition gap during the summer by feeding an average of 16,850 children a day)
- Women, Infants & Children Program (half of all infants born in the state of Oklahoma enroll in WIC)
As you can see, these programs fill a significant meal gap for food-insecure children and limiting their reach and impact would be detrimental.
As Congress begins to debate the Child Nutrition Reauthorization, please help us demonstrate to Congress that eliminating child hunger is a priority in Oklahoma by signing our letter of support.
Advocacy and Public Policy
The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma
The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma
405-600-3129
advocate@regionalfoodbank.org
www.regionalfoodbank.org
www.okfoodbank.org
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