2018 Summer Feeding Program
By Albert B. Kelly
The older I get, the more I find myself looking back at my
younger self, with a heart full of nostalgia, picking through old memories and
scenes, searching for I don’t know what. Maybe that’s just what we do when we
have more life behind us than ahead of us. One memory that sticks out when I
was a kid was the end of the school year and start of summer. I looked forward
to those lazy days playing with friends and doing whatever it was we did back
then. One thing I never worried about was getting enough to eat in summer.
But today, things are different and the end of school, for
too many kids, means the end of a regular breakfast or regular lunch. Take a
moment and let that sink in- the end of the school year means many kids won’t
be able to depend on breakfast or lunch- meals that are part of the regular
school year through the free or reduced breakfast and lunch program at their
schools.
We could spend a month of Sundays debating why this is so-
maybe it fits in neatly next to the fact that the U.S has the highest poverty
rate and the highest infant mortality rate, along with the lowest life
expectancy, among some 30-odd nations we consider peers. Regardless of why, the
fact remains that once school lets out, too many kids don’t get enough food.
That’s why we have summer feeding programs and why we work
our tails off finding sites that will be hosts for the summer feeding program.
The goal is to ensure that kids get enough to eat each day of summer until
school starts up again. Not for nothing, but the food insecurity rate among
children in Cumberland County is 17.9% with no less than 87% being income
eligible for the free and reduced meal program. In Bridgeton over 5,000
children are eligible for the summer feeding program and county-wide, the
number is nearly 18,000.
How many children actually get the food and nutrition they
need- probably not enough. Over the past 3 years, we’ve worked hard to raise
the number of eligible children receiving meals and we’ve had some success. In
addition to more feeding sites, in my other role at Gateway Community Action
Partnership, we’ve created the “Healthy Food Express” mobile feeding bus to
bring nutritious meals to children wherever they are in the community and this
has helped.
But we need to continue to get the word out and be
proactive. Bridgeton’s students are already eligible for the summer food
program by virtue of our economic numbers in the community so no separate
enrollment is necessary, but that may not be the case for children in other
communities.
One thing that makes sense would be to do automatic
enrollment state-wide for any child who comes from a household that receives
SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), TANF (Temporary Assistance to
Needy Families), and similar assistance programs that assume eligibility.
But locally, the goal remains ensuring that children get
proper nutritious meals. For the summer of 2018, we have various locations in Bridgeton
serving in one form or another as summer feeding sites, so chances are good
that there’s one close to every household.
As far as general “walk-in” locations in Bridgeton to get
breakfast or lunch, they include: the PAL Soccer Field Park (lunch only- 10a
Mon, Wed, Fri), ALMS Center (breakfast 9am, lunch 12 Noon, Mon-Thu), Amity
Heights Apts (lunch only 11:30a, Mon-Thu), Bridgeton Commons Office (lunch only
12 noon, Mon-Fri), Bridgeton Library (lunch only 11:30a Tue, Wed, Thu ), and Johnson
Reeves Playground (lunch only 2:30p Mon-Fri),
For those participating specifically in school-based
programs (no “walk-ins”), breakfast and lunch are available at Cherry St School
(breakfast 8:30a, lunch 12 noon, Mon-Fri), Quarter Mile Lane School (breakfast
9am, lunch 12 noon Mon-Fri), West Ave School (breakfast 8am, lunch 11:30a
Mon-Fri), Bridgeton High School (breakfast 8a, lunch 12:30p Mon-Fri), and Buckshutem
School (breakfast 8:30a, lunch 12 Noon, Mon-Fri).
Most of the sites will begin summer feeding schedules the
week of July 9th and will go until varying dates within the month of
August. While I have listed sites in Bridgeton, many communities, including
Millville, Vineland, and Salem, have their own locations and you can find them,
along with dates and times, by visiting https://www.fns.usda.gov/summerfoodrocks
Whatever we do, let’s ensure that children don’t remember
summer break as a time of being hungry.