Alameda County Community Food Bank

Press Releases: Free Summer Lunch Program Provides Nutritious Meals to Children

Contact: Kari Martell
(510) 636-4902

Free Summer Lunch Program Provides Nutritious Meals to Children

Alameda County Community Food Bank works with task force to inform residents about meal sites and hosts kickoff event on June 27 in Oakland

Oakland, Calif. (6/24/05) –How do you let parents and children in Alameda County know that they can easily find a site serving a free lunch so children don't have to go hungry this summer?

You form a task force, sign up 110 schools and community sites, post 134,000 flyers, hang 100 banners, give away 200 t-shirts, 2500 awareness bracelets, and 2500 Frisbees, create a special 800 number to announce meal sites, alert the media, and host a Free Summer Lunch kickoff.

The kickoff will be held on Monday, June 27th from 12 noon to 1 pm at MORH 1 Apartments, located at 741 Filbert Street in Oakland. KMEL and WB20 will be on hand to help attract attention. Alameda County Community Food Bank is doing this outreach as part of the Free Summer Lunch task force, consisting of representatives from USDA, City of Oakland, Oakland Unified School District, office of Senator Perata (D-Oakland) and SBC, the fiscal sponsor of the county-wide outreach campaign.

"In Alameda County, 77,543 students receive free or reduced price lunches during the school year, yet only 15,508 participate in summer lunch programs," reports Suzan Bateson, executive director, Alameda County Community Food Bank. "Our goal is to encourage low-income children to join their friends for a healthy summer lunch."

Summer lunch is critical for many low-income children. When school is not in session, these meals are not available and not easily replaced.

"Summer should be the happiest months for children and hunger is the last thing they should have to worry about," states Senator Don Perata. "This is an important program and I am pleased to support it."

Children 18 and under can receive a free lunch every summer weekday with no registration. Call toll-free 800-870-3663 to learn where to go to receive a free lunch in Alameda County.

"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," says Barbara Leslie, external affairs director for SBC.