Kids from Dalton Whetstone Boys & Girls Club Summer Meals Program

Think of summer as does a kid. You probably think of hot summer days, shorts and flip flops, and dreaming of swimming pools. Maybe your mind conjures up ideas of sticky watermelons, fireflies at night, Fourth of July cookouts. But what if that wasn’t your summer? What if your memories of summertime were hunger?

In Arkansas there are roughly 280,000 children in the public school system eligible for free and reduced meals during the school year. Of that 280,000 roughly 15% receive summertime meals. Just to save you from pulling out a calculator, that comes to roughly 42,000 children. That still leaves about 238,000 children who could be – need to be — receiving meals in the summertime.

You’re probably thinking, “Ok, I get it. So, let’s feed them.”

Well, we’re trying.

Feeding children in the summer is not as simple as it seems. We have to find people who are not only willing, but have the financial and organizational capacity, to do so. They have to be willing to attend trainings, do paperwork, and be creative when solving unexpected problems. It has to be a place that kids can access easily and where they (and their parents) feel comfortable. If kids can’t access a site, is there available transportation? If so, then there are a series of other regulations which must be followed.

The list could go on. Luckily for the children of Arkansas, there is a team of people who work tirelessly to ensure these sites are open and running. From our office in Little Rock to the Department of Human Services, to our sponsor— Share Our Strength in Washington, D.C.—there is a team that constantly works hard to ensure more children are fed in our state.
Hard work pays off. This summer, for the first time, there is a summer feeding site in every county in Arkansas. We may not be able to feed every mouth this summer, but at least we can help more of Arkansas’s kids create memories of swimming pools and watermelons, not hunger.

** Following the end of summer and summer meals, many schools will begin afterschool meals. Check with your school for more information.