Rural Development’s Office of Multifamily Housing sent the following information regarding hosting the USDA Summer Food Service Program:

In states across the nation many children receive free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch while school is in session through USDA’s School Breakfast and National School Lunch Programs. However, when schools let out for the summer, many of these children are likely to have limited to no access to breakfast and lunch. Together we can work to ensure that kids who receive meals during the school year have access to nutritious foods during the summer months, too.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Services Summer Food Service Program serves free, healthy meals to eligible low-income children and teens during the summer months when they’re not in school. Multi-Family Housing and Community Facilities sites funded by USDA Rural Development provide an excellent setting to host the Summer Food Service Program. With your participation in the program, your community can receive meals from local sponsoring organizations such as Boys and Girls Clubs, local school districts, etc. These organizations prepare the meals and deliver them directly to your facility.

Rural Development is committed to providing efficient and effective customer service while improving the quality of life and creating prosperity in rural communities. The Summer Meals collaboration provides a great opportunity to build innovative partnerships and leverage our collective resources to feed rural children during the summer.

Rural Development and the Food and Nutrition Service invite you to join the Summer Food Service Program and provide free, healthy meals to children living in your community. Your responsibility in this effort is manageable: you are expected to provide a location for meals to be distributed (indoors or outdoors), and in some cases provide oversight and keep records. Details would be worked out with the sponsoring organization in your town.

You can learn more about Summer Meals at Summer Meals Toolkit where you will find many resources, including information specifically for property managers. For more information about the Summer Meals Program in your area please contact the Summer Food Service Program in your state. The contacts can be found here: State Level Contacts – just select your state and choose the Summer Food Service Program link. You can also find contacts for other FNS programs on this site.

If you have any questions for USDA Rural Development, please contact the servicing specialist for your property. A complete list can be found here: Rural Development Servicing Specialists

Let’s work together to make the summer months nutritious months for children throughout the Nation.

Interested parties are encouraged to join a mailing list to receive future updates via GovDelivery from Rural Development Multifamily Housing.