Some Chattanooga-area community organizations and schools will use grants from No Kid Hungry to provide meals to students and families this summer.
Waivers and modifications to the summer feeding program from the federal government made it possible to expand meal distribution this summer, said Eleni Towns, associate director of No Kid Hungry, part of a nonprofit organization fighting child hunger.
“The summer meals program is a program that’s existed for decades across the country. What’s unique about it this year, in addition to the heightened need because of the pandemic, are these flexibilities, these waivers that the federal government has allotted for,” Towns said. “So we are so thankful for organizations and districts for taking up the charge and operating more meals than they have in previous years, and it means that more families should have access.”
The waivers allow groups more flexibility in meal distributions, like dropping off meals to families or creating a grab-and-go model, as opposed to previous requirements under which students would receive a meal at a school or program they were attending and would have to eat it on site.
“It really helps alleviate some of the access and transportation issues that we see, and really move forward with getting the meal to the kids, the full amount of meals that they need during the summer months,” Towns said. “So those types of possibilities are really critical, especially in rural areas where – or in any area where – we know a lot of the kids are not in school during the summer or not in a program during the summer.”