Free summer meals for Akron kids approved for funding

During the school year, all students at Akron Public Schools are eligible to receive breakfast and lunch at no charge — meals developed by registered dieticians to keep their bellies full and their young minds ready to learn.

But when school isn’t in session during the summer and food at home might be scarce, how can communities make sure their children are getting enough to eat?

To address this problem, APS is again partnering with the City of Akron’s Recreation Department to provide free, healthy breakfasts and lunches to the children of Akron through the Summer Food Service Program.

An ordinance to approve a $300,000 contract to facilitate the program’s meal preparation and delivery services was discussed during the April 27 meeting of City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee and passed at the May 4 council meeting.

“Last year, we served approximately 46,000 meals — breakfast and lunch — throughout the community,” said Robert Dowdell, the city’s food service program coordinator and supervisor at the Ed Davis Community Center in Akron’s Sherbondy Hill neighborhood. 

He added that, with the current economic situation, he expects this summer’s program to exceed the demand of previous years.

The food program will be located at 15 sites throughout Akron, including all of the city’s community centers, an outside location at Lane Field Park and 25 to 30 school sites throughout the APS district. 

The program will run from June 8 to July 31.

This program is available throughout APS as well as other school districts in low-income areas through the federal Community Eligibility Provision, a service provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service department.

The CEP allows these districts to serve meals to all enrolled students without their families having to apply. According to the USDA website, “schools that adopt CEP are reimbursed using a formula based on the percentage of students categorically eligible for free meals based on their participation in other specific means-tested programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.”

(Editor’s note: Signal Akron will add the list of locations to this post when it becomes available.)