Alameda County Community Food Bank

Press Releases: Community Leaders Kick-Off Summer Lunch for Children and Teens

Contact: Kari Martell
(510) 287-2344

Community Leaders Kick-Off Summer Lunch for Children and Teens

Oakland, Calif. (6/24/04) –Senator Perata, Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (invited) and Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker (invited) will join anti-hunger advocates in helping to serve lunches to hungry children this Friday at the kick-off event of the Summer Lunch Program. This launch will take place at the Franklin Recreation Center located at 1010 E 15th Street in Oakland.

Lunch will run from 12 to 1 pm with the press conference starting at noon. This event commemorates the beginning of this year’s summer lunch program in Alameda County where 116 community sites and schools will be providing a mid-day meal to children and teens under 18 every day during the summer. For programs in Oakland, the City of Oakland and Oakland Unified School District will provide the meals, with partial funding from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program. In other cities, the school districts will provide the summer meals.

“Last summer, over 80,000 Alameda County children who were eligible to receive these free summer meals went hungry due to the lack of sites in their area, or to the lack of knowledge about these critical programs,” said Suzan Bateson, Alameda County Community Food Bank executive director.

“Last fall, we convened a task force to address this lack of participation in Alameda County,” stated Senator Don Perata, who was concerned with the dismal participation rate and high incidence of hunger among children. “This kick-off event is part of a year-long effort to raise awareness about this important program that has the potential to halt child hunger during the summer when children are most vulnerable.”

“The Summer Lunch Program underscores the importance of meeting kids’ basic nutrition needs over the summer, and is an essential resource for the children of Alameda County,” said Barbara Leslie, external affairs director for SBC, the fiscal sponsor for the first county-wide outreach campaign. “SBC companies are proud to support the Alameda County Community Food Bank and Senator Perata in their endeavor to diminish child hunger.”

Parents throughout the Bay Area can receive a summer lunch referral by calling Helplink at 1-800-273-6222. In Alameda County, parents can contact the Alameda County Community Food Bank at 1-800-870-3663 for a summer lunch referral.

Established in 1985, the Alameda County Community Food Bank works with 300 community based organizations, including soup kitchens and food pantries, to provide emergency food assistance to 120,000 people in need each month. In addition to food distribution, the Food Bank works to break the cycle of poverty and hunger through education and advocacy efforts. For more information, call (510) 834-3663 or visit www.accfb.org.