Feeding San Diego: Nourishing Youth Through Summer Food Programs
Helping Kids Get the Fuel They Need This Summer
Every summer, Feeding San Diego steps in to make sure kids across the county are getting enough to eat. With the tumult of the past year and a half, the need for food assistance remains high due to the economic fallout. According to the San Diego Hunger Coalition, as of November 2020 more than 280,000 children in our county are at risk of experiencing hunger. Feeding San Diego’s summer programming provides vital food assistance during the summer months to ensure youth are getting the nutrition they need to grow and thrive. Without it, there are many children that could go hungry.
This summer, Feeding San Diego is supporting youth and families in need with two specific food assistance programs, the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and School Pantry program. There are 46 sites across the county, providing on average 23,700 meals every week. Feeding San Diego is providing meals to children and their families through 25 summer meal program sites located at recreation centers, apartment complexes, YMCA locations, and other nonprofits serving youth. Feeding San Diego also operates an additional 21 school pantry sites to serve low-income students and their families.
One of the summer meal sites is the Armed Services YMCA, where families can pick up prepared meals. One of those families is led by mom Monica, who picks up meals for her twin toddlers while her husband is deployed. She shared that the support has been vital in her life. “It literally brought me to tears,” she says. “I don’t have to worry about their lunches during working hours and it gives me time to actually play with my daughters instead of cooking their lunch. My husband doesn’t have to worry about leaving us behind because you all are helping our family out.”
In addition to the summer meal programming, Feeding San Diego holds hundreds of other food distributions throughout the county to provide food assistance to neighbors in need, including its large-scale food distributions open to anyone in need called the Together Tour.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges for youth to adapt to remote learning and the isolation that came along with it. For youth who were already struggling with hunger, it has been an overall tough time,” Dan Shea, CEO of Feeding San Diego shared with GB Magazine. “We are doing our part to help families during the summer months when they need more sustenance at home. Year over year we see that this support greatly alleviates hunger for kids in San Diego County.”
To learn more about Feeding San Diego’s summer programming, donate, or volunteer, visit www.feedingsandiego.org/fuel-for-summer. Generous support for the Fuel for Summer campaign includes presenting sponsor Ford Motor Company Fund and San Diego County Ford Dealers, as well as Telos Capital Management, Wells Fargo, Tracon Pharma, California Bank & Trust, and the Padres Foundation.
