UW Combined Fund Drive

June 29, 2024

Solving summer hunger: keeping kids nourished when schools are closed

More than 250,000 children in Washington state associate summer with being hungry, according to Feeding America.

That’s the scale of food insecurity that emerges when the academic year wraps up and schools stop serving free or subsidized breakfasts and lunches to qualifying students.

Nutritious meals are essential to helping kids remain healthy and active during the summer months. Living in a state of food insecurity — lacking enough food to live a healthy life — leads in the opposite direction.

In Washington state, the number of families who cannot consistently put food on their tables more than doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic—and has remained high in the years since. And people of color, migrants, indigenous populations and refugees experience food insecurity at twice the rate of the general population.

Many households experiencing food insecurity do not qualify for federal nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). So, an increasing number of Washington families are relying on their local food banks/pantries and other hunger relief organizations for support.

For context, nearly one in three students in Seattle Public Schools receives free or reduced lunches during the school year — meaning a lot of young people face uncertainty about their next meal when school’s out for summer.

Accessing summer meals

SUN Meals Program

To address hunger during the summer months, schools and community-based organizations operate summer meals sites using federal funds through the SUN Meals Program.

When schools are closed, the SUN Meals Program provides free meals to any child 18 or under. These are served at local sites all over Western Washington that are selected and administered by United Way of King County.

Consult the SUN Meals site or United Way of King County to see the network of SUN Meals locations and find the closest to you. In addition, some rural communities offer SUN Meals To-Go to qualifying children. And eligible families can receive $120 in SUN Bucks per child, loaded onto a debit-style EBT card, to purchase groceries during the summer.

Seattle Summer Food Service Program

Seattle’s Summer Food Service Program (formerly know as the Summer Meals Program) was established to ensure that children and teens age 18 and younger receive free, healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks during the summer months.

Sites all over Seattle will operate approximately from July 1 through August 23, 2024. Each youth can receive up to two meals or one meal and one snack per day to be eaten onsite. All Seattle residents, regardless of immigration status, are eligible for City of Seattle Programs and services unless noted otherwise.

The Summer Food Service Program is federally funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington State.

Additional resources

Support those without enough to eat

Equitable access to nourishing food is a human right. If your family has enough to eat, you can support organizations working to realize this truth through volunteerism or financial support.

Consider making a one-time gift or setting up monthly payroll deduction through the UWCFD to one of our member organizations providing equitable access to nourishing food in our communities:

United Way of King County – improving our community in lasting ways by ending homelessness, supporting early learning, providing for basic needs and enhancing the ability of people to care for one another (charity code: 0316726).

UW Husky Hunger Relief – supporting hunger relief programs, such as UW Food Pantry, which address the needs of students, faculty and staff experiencing food insecurity and hunger (charity code: 1482050).

University District Food Bank – providing nutritious food to low-income seniors, adults and children living in Northeast Seattle neighborhoods (charity code: 0316382).

Northwest Harvest – providing nutritious food to hungry people statewide in a manner that respects their dignity, while fighting to eliminate hunger (charity code: 0316358).

Ballard Food Bank – assisting individuals and families in maintaining self-sufficiency by providing assistance for basic needs (charity code: 0481654).

Feeding America – ensuring equitable access to nutritious food for all in partnership with food banks, policymakers, supporters and the communities served (charity code: 0464861).

No Kid Hungry – a national campaign run by Share Our Strength, a nonprofit working to end childhood hunger and poverty in the U.S. and around the world. (charity code: 0497068).

Food Lifeline – feeding people facing hunger today and working to end hunger for tomorrow (charity code: 0463199).

Lifelong – providing food and services to people living with AIDS in King County (charity code: 0330232).

City Fruit – organizing volunteers to pick fruit from participating urban gardeners and distribute to food banks and senior centers (charity code: 1480420).

Farmer Frog – providing food assistance to those in need through school-based vegetable gardens across Washington state.