Helping the Summer Food Service Program
By Albert B. Kelly
Being in government, you
get exposed to a lot of numbers and statistics about people and groups. Often,
the eyes glaze over and it’s easy to blow past these stats and completely miss
the lives behind them. Every now and again though, you bump into something that
pulls you up short.
This happened recently as
I was looking over information on the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). If
you are not familiar with the program, it’s designed to provide children from
low-income families with a proper breakfast and/or lunch over the summer months
when school is not in session.
You wouldn’t think that
this would be a big deal but it is. These are the children that rely on the
free or reduced breakfast and lunch programs that are available when school is
in session from September through mid-June.
For many of these
children, the free or reduced breakfast and lunch program during the school
year is the primary way that they can get the proper nutrition they need from
day to day. The program is critical in making sure that children are not
sitting in a classroom trying to learn on empty stomachs; pained or distracted
by hunger.
We’re all familiar with
the research that shows how important proper nutrition is to good health and
learning, so it’s hard to overstate how important the in-school program is for
these youngsters. But when summer comes and the school year ends, so does the
access to these meals.
That’s why the Summer Food
Service Program (SFSP) is critical as a way to help children maintain good
health and nutrition over the summer break; and it’s why I was pulled up short
by the actual numbers I saw for this program.
In Bridgeton, 5,098
children are eligible to receive meals through the SFSP, but only 551 are
actually signed up; meaning that 89% of eligible children in Bridgeton are
going without access to these meals during the summer. In Cumberland County,
17,634 children are eligible, but only 2,086 are enrolled, translating into 88%
county-wide missing out.
The first thought is that
we have to do a better job of promoting the program to families in need. While
that seems reasonable enough in itself, I then noted the State’s reimbursement
rate.
For 2015, the NJ
Department of Agriculture funding the SFSP reimburses $2.08 for breakfast and
$3.65 for lunch/supper for meals served at rural or self-preparation sites. The
same meals served at other types of sites are reimbursed at $2.04 and $3.59
respectively.
The tricky part is that
the meals must meet federal nutrition guidelines; proper amounts of fruits, vegetables,
protein, etc., while still appealing to kids’ tastes. It’s not enough to find
something cheap to fill empty stomachs; it has to meet requirements. Ketchup won’t
count as a vegetable try as some might.
My point is that providing
the right foods in the right amounts that kids will eat with limited dollars is
hard and organizations can use any help they can get to stretch their
resources. One of the ways to help is finding locations where food can be
prepared and meals served which will allow for the greater reimbursement rate
and ease of access for the children.
If there are organizations
that have space and/or facilities in the greater Bridgeton area that they would
be willing to share for the Summer Food Service Program, please contact me at
the Office of the Mayor (856-455-3230 Ext 200) so we can discuss the details.
Part of the challenge is
finding willing sponsors for the program and part of the challenge is finding
locations. If successful, it would mean that we could serve all the eligible
children and it would allow kids to do what kids should in summer; play and have
fun as opposed to scrounging the next meal.
I realize that summer
seems a long way off and planning still needs to be done with regard to the
Summer Food Service Program, but it is necessary to start early and plan well
because the impact is huge for a lot of children in Bridgeton and throughout
Cumberland County.