“Free food! There’s free food here!”

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is coming to a close, and while statistics and charts could easily sum up the success of the program, the exclamations of the benefiting children and families are what truly capture the impact we’ve made.

“Grandma! We can get free breakfast and lunch!”

“We really needed a program like this!”

These reactions say it best.

During the school year, approximately 270,000 Minnesota children receive access to nutritional meals through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs. But when the school year ends for the summer, only about 20% of these kids continue to receive free or reduced-cost meals. That means that roughly 216,000 children aren’t getting the nourishment they need for three months out of every year.

The Summer Food Service Program, facilitated by a partnership of Second Harvest Heartland, the Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Department of Education, closes that gap, providing easy access for morning and afternoon meals that many Minnesota children would otherwise miss during the long summer months. Taking an education and advocacy role, Second Harvest Heartland worked hard to raise awareness for this valuable program with intense and focused canvassing of entire neighborhoods, getting the word out that there is nutritious food available when school is out of session.

Our efforts, supplemented by generous grants from the Minnesota Vikings Children’s Fund, have paid dividends. The program at Cityview Performing Arts Magnet school in Minneapolis, for example, saw an 83% jump in total meals served and a 162% increase in average daily participation over the last two years. In an area of our community where 93% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch during the school year, providing a similar program during the summer is vital.

“It’s a truly important program to have at our school,” said Laura Cavender, principal at Cityview. “Many of our families need that support during the summer. In order for students to grow physically, as well as for academic development, it’s important for them to have that nutrition.”

According to Feeding America, 1 in 8 Minnesota children lives at risk of hunger, which is a large reason why more than 400 sites around Minnesota hosted the SFSP this summer. The truly collaborative effort becomes more important every year. The participation numbers at the Cityview site alone show how much SFSP truly matters in Minnesota.

Of course, shouts of joy have a way of showing what’s important, too.