Seamless Summer Option

Millions of children face a risk of hunger during the summer months when they no longer have access to school meals. USDA’s summer meal programs – the Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option – reduce food and nutrition insecurity and help ensure kids are healthy and ready to learn...

Most kids look forward to the end of school and the start of summer vacation, but for some it can also mean the loss of the regular meals they rely on during the school year.

Reducing the summer nutrition gap has been an ongoing priority of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), as part of the agency’s greater mission of ending both hunger and obesity among Americans. FNS is now ready to receive and begin processing the summer meals site...

When thinking of summer meal programs, what comes to mind? Hot lunches and fresh produce bars? Themed menus made with fresh, local foods? Taste tests and cooking lessons? Summer meal sponsors nationwide are working hard to make sure these practices are the new norms, and the positive movement is...

As the school year draws to a close, many program operators that help keep our nation’s children nourished and active are just ramping up. When school is out, many school districts and an array of nonprofit partners step up to offer healthy summer meals through USDA’s Summer Food Service Program...

Every day, millions of students are able to enjoy a nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunch thanks to the National School Lunch Program. Everyday they’re in school, that is. But what happens to these children when school lets out during the summer? That’s when vital programs offered by USDA’s...

Children who live in the Franklin Vista Apartments in Anthony, N.M., didn’t have to walk far to receive a healthy breakfast and lunch this summer, thanks to Gadsden ISD Food Service Director Demetrious Giovas. He made sure children there were able to gather under the covered porch of the apartment...

They looked like apples to the twenty-seven children who were waiting patiently in line for lunch as part of the USDA Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) at Old Plank Estates in Butler, PA. But in fact, Freedom Farms, a local farmers market, brought a bushel of fresh picked nectarines for the...

Earlier this summer, I had the opportunity to see the many happy faces of children playing on the recreational fields of the Western Sussex Boys & Girls Club in Seaford, Del. They were there as part of a Summer Food Service Program showcasing USDA’s Eat Smart. Play Hard Campaign. It was easy to get...