Fact Sheet: 2011 Hunger-Free Summer

June 2, 2011
The Problem

During the school year, 21 million children can count on having lunch each weekday thanks to the free and reduced-priced school lunch program available to low-income families. Nine million of those children also receive breakfast at school. But when school lets out for summer, the vast majority of those children are more likely to face hunger because they aren't enrolled in summer meal programs.

There are a variety of reasons why kids don’t participate in the summer meals program, including:
   • Many families don’t know about the program and don’t enroll their children.
   • Children aren't able to get to summer meal programs because of a lack of transportation or because they live in rural areas.
   • Not all communities offer summer meal programs due to low enrollment or lack of knowledge about available funding to support summer meal programs.

(Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture)

The Solution:
Through the Hunger-Free Summer program, the ConAgra Foods Foundation and Feeding America are working to help ensure that all children have access to nutritious meals year round.

The ConAgra Foods Foundation has donated $5 million over five years to help ensure children have enough to eat during the summer. Funding for the Hunger-Free Summer program will expand summer meal programs to more children in more places.

This summer, the goal of the Hunger-Free Summer campaign is to help participating Feeding America food banks serve an additional one million meals and feed 10,000 more children through their unique and innovative programs.

Twenty-three food banks were selected each year by Feeding America to receive grants during the summers of 2010 and 2011. These Hunger-Free Summer grants are used to implement innovative approaches for summer feeding programs, such as campaigns to increase awareness and mobile kids' meals delivery in rural areas. Learnings from each program will also be shared with others to further improve children’s access to summer meal programs this year and in years to come.

How It Works:
Proper nutrition is vital to the growth and development of children. When schools let out for the summer, many children lose access to the free and reduced-price meals at school. The ConAgra Foods Foundation Hunger-Free Summer program will ensure that thousands of children will receive nutritious meals and snacks this summer.

Children who receive free or reduced-priced school meals are also eligible to participate in summer programs that offer free meals at many Feeding America food banks across the country. So, while school may be out for summer, lunch is always in session.

The funding provided by ConAgra Foods Foundation helps ensure that Feeding America-affiliated food banks will have the means to put in place new programs and expand existing programs to help more children get the nutritious foods they need, but may not have access to because of financial difficulties their families face.

How to Get Involved:
There are many ways to help:

Monetary donations - Food banks can make your dollar stretch farther – purchasing at a significant discount items like eggs, milk, fresh produce, and other perishable items not donated. A simple way to make a donation - text "FEEDKIDS" to 50555 to donate $10 to Feeding America directly. This will allow Feeding America to provide 70 meals to children and families facing hunger.

Volunteer – While feeding children is a top priority, activities are what keep children coming back. This takes volunteers – and LOTS of them, especially during the summer months. Volunteers can help with basics like transporting food, setting up or cleaning up a site—they also plan and do activities with the children.

Spread the Word – The program is only as successful as the number of children who take advantage of it. That’s why it’s important to spread the word that there is a program that helps feed hungry children. The more people know about the issues, the more likely they are to take action to help end hunger or know how to help their own children.

Visit HungerFreeSummerTour.org to learn more about the program and to locate the food bank that serves your community.

2011 Grant Recipients
America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia (Savannah, Ga.)
Bread of the Mighty Food Bank* (Gainesville, Fla.)
Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, Inc. (Austin, Texas)
Catholic Charities Food Bank of the Southern Tier (Elmira, N.Y.)
Central Pennsylvania Food Bank (Harrisburg, Pa.)
Feeding America Southwest Virginia (Salem, Va.)
Food Bank for the Heartland (Omaha, Neb.)
Food Bank of Eastern Michigan (Flint, Mich.)
Food Bank of Northern Nevada* (McCarran, Nev.)
Food Bank of South Jersey (Pennsauken, N.J.)
Food Bank of the Virginia Peninsula (Newport News, Va.)
Food Finders Food Bank, Inc.* (Lafayette, Ind.)
Harvesters – The Community Food Network* (Kansas City, Mo.)
Idaho Foodbank Warehouse, Inc. (Boise, Idaho)
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle (Raleigh, N.C.)
Kansas Food Bank Warehouse (Wichita, Kan.)
Lowcountry Food Bank* (Charleston, S.C.)
Mississippi Food Bank Network (Jackson, Miss.)
Redwood Empire Food Bank* (Santa Rosa, Calif.)
Regional East Texas Food Bank (Tyler, Texas)
Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.)
Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County* (Irvine, Calif.)
Vermont Food Bank* (Barre, Vt.)

*2010 Hunger-Free Summer grant recipients

Contact Information:
Camilla Ferrario
Office: 314-982-1778
camilla.ferrario@fleishman.com

Stephanie Childs
Office: 402-240-6258
stephanie.childs@conagrafoods.com