For many kids, Summer is a time for enjoying the outdoors, relaxing, and recuperating after a long school year. However, for an often-overlooked number of children and their families it is also a stressful time of dealing with the meal gaps that were previously filled by free and reduced school breakfast and lunch programs. Summer meals and Summer EBT have become more prominent over the years as their crucial value to so many kids has become more apparent, but the implementation of these programs still faces challenges. On this episode of Voices to End Hunger, host Minerva Delgado speaks with two experts in policy and practice when it comes to summer meals and Summer EBT, also known as Sun Bucks through USDA, their delivery, and the politics behind them.

Guest(s):

-Jonathan Hansen, Chief Strategy Officer, Hunger Task Force (Milwaukee, WI)

-Carolyn Vega,Associate Director, Policy Analysis, No Kid Hungry Center for Best Practices, Share Our Strength

Learn More:

Share Our Strength: https://shareourstrength.org/

Hunger Task Force: https://www.hungertaskforce.org/

Programs referenced in this episode

Community Eligibility Provision (CEP): is a provision within the National School Lunch Program that allows eligible schools in high-poverty areas to serve free meals to all students without collecting household applications. Instead, schools are reimbursed based on a formula using the percentage of students directly certified for free meals.

Summer EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer), also known as SUN Bucks: “SUN Bucks provides $120 in grocery benefits per eligible school-age child when school is out for summer. SUN Bucks can be used to purchase food from authorized retailers in participating states, Tribes, and territories.” (https://www.fns.usda.gov/summer/sunbucks)

Summer Meals/SUN Meals: “Through SUN Meals, kids of all ages can eat meals and snacks during the summer at no cost at schools, parks, and other neighborhood locations. SUN Meals may have a different name where you live, but the benefit is the same: nutritious meals for kids and teens in the summer when school is out.” (https://www.fns.usda.gov/summer/sunmeals) 

Non-Congregate Summer Meals/SUN Meals to Go: Meals provided to eligible children to consume outside of a static “congregate” setting such as a school, park, or other meeting place.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): The largest federal food assistance program in the United States, SNAP provides over 42 million low-income people with supplemental assistance through state-based EBT programs to purchase food for themselves and their families. 

Credits

Host: Minerva Delgado

Produced and Edited by: Nate Magrath

Additional Editing: Malia Adams