SUN Meals answer summer hunger pangs
'They love it,' Britney Bansley said of her three children, Joshua Smith, 8, Cephas Smith, 6, and Evalynn Smith, 4. 'This my first time here because I have a random day off. My babysitter has been bringing them.'
Bansley said she likes the program also because if the kids don't finish their meals, they're able to bring them home to eat later.
River Forest is one of dozens of Northwest Indiana school districts and charter schools taking part in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's SUN Meals, a free summer nutrition program for children 18-and-under.
'Our kids really need it,' said River Forest food service director Nick Alessandri. 'Thirty-five is a pretty good turnout,' he said of Thursday's attendance at Twin Oaks. 'I definitely think the program is necessary.'
Throughout the U.S., various sites, including schools, parks, libraries, and others offer free lunches while school is out to make sure children receive nutritious options.
Formerly known as the Summer Food Service Program, it's been around for decades and received a menu update last year by the Biden administration with SUN Meals, SUN Meals To-GO and the new SUN Bucks program.
This year, Indiana opted out of the second-year SUN Bucks program, which provides needy families in the Electronic Benefits Transfer program (EBT) with a grocery benefit of $120 per eligible school child.
Indiana joined the program last year under former Gov. Eric Holcomb, but officials in the Braun administration blamed Holcomb's administration for insufficient planning and funding preparations leaving it unable to fulfill the program's requirements.
The SUN Meals program, however, remains unaffected throughout the state.
The Twin Oaks Park site is one five sites served by River Forest schools, said Superintendent Kevin Trezak.
Twin Oaks is the lone one with a learning component, said New Chicago Park Board vice president Morgan McCabe.
On Thursday, the children watched Patricia Riley-Churilla teach common American Sign Language phrases such as family and mother.
They also have speakers from the New Chicago-Lake Station Public Library and the Shirley Heinze Land Trust. The kids craft art projects on Mondays and last year, they painted park benches, McCabe said.
Trezak said the three offsites together are averaging about 85 kids a day. 'These are great numbers for us since the offsite spots are aimed to serve those with transportation needs,' he said.
Northwest Indiana is home to multiple free school lunch sites from East Chicago to LaPorte. To find a site, see: https://www.fns.usda.gov/summer/sitefinder.
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Miami Herald
26-06-2025
- Miami Herald
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A 'tremendous increase' in food demand Though the program is not limited to county residents or students of the county's school district, Baltimore County poverty has skyrocketed in recent years, according to Laurie Taylor-Mitchel, founder of The Student Support Network. The group is a non-profit that provides things like food, clothing and personal care products for free to students in its 21 member schools across the district. "We're seeing a tremendous increase in demand for food," Taylor-Mitchel said. At the last food distribution the network held at Parkville High School on June 11, she said families lined up an hour beforehand, and all 75 bags of food and other basic necessities were gone in 40 minutes. Some families didn't receive anything. "As fast as we could put it in the cars, there was another car there. And that's one school," she said. Data from this past school year show that just over three-quarters of Baltimore County Public Schools students, nearly 83,000 students, qualify for free or reduced-price school meals. Children can qualify for free or reduced-price meals if they participate in a federal assistance program like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), if they are homeless, a migrant, runaway or foster child, or based on their family's income. Families with incomes below 130% of the federal poverty level can get free meals; those between 130% and 185% can get reduced meals, according to the USDA. For families experiencing poverty and food insecurity in the county, economic pressures might continue to worsen. The price of food in May 2025 was 2.9% higher than in May 2024, the USDA said, and prices are projected to rise through the end of this year. ---------- Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
