New Mobile App Connects Families and Students with Free Summer Meals
USDA summer meals program provides nutritious, free meals across Minnesota
ROSEVILLE, MN – A new mobile application launched statewide
this year to help students and families find free summer meals. The app, called
Summer Eats Minnesota, is powered by GPS to show locations of summer food
sites, their menus, and days and hours of operation. The app, created in
partnership between the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and Hunger Impact Partners,
is free in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
“For some students, the free meals they get in school are
the most nutritious meals they can count on,” said Education Commissioner
Brenda Cassellius. “To help close the nutrition gap, students need access to
healthy meals over the summer so they come back in September ready to learn.
Many organizations, partners and communities are coming together to expand the
number of meals available over the summer, and their innovative efforts will
help more students have healthy meals after the last bell rings. The new statewide
mobile app is a great example of how we can work together to help students get
what they need to succeed, even when school is out.”
Summer meals are available across Minnesota through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s
Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which provides children ages 18 and under with
nutritious meals when school is out. The Minnesota Department of Education is
working with schools, nonprofits, cities, colleges and faith-based
communities to increase awareness of the free meals. Over 200 organizations have
signed up to provide children with free, healthy meals at eligible locations this summer.
In 2017, more than three million meals were served to
Minnesota children through the Summer Food Service Program, yet efforts reached only about 18 percent of children in need. The program is funded by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered by the Minnesota Department of
Education.
There are many additional resources available to find a meal site over
the summer:
- Enter your address in the new Summer Meal Site Locator tool released by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service.
- Call the 2-1-1 Hotline, or, from your mobile
phone in the Twin Cities metro area, call 651-291-0211. In greater Minnesota,
call 1-800-543-7709, or TTY at 651-291-8440.
- Call the National Hunger Hotline at
1-866-348-6479, or, in Spanish at 1-877-842-6273.
- View the SFSP
Participation Report to find a list of all sites.
- Download the Summer
Eats Minnesota app on your phone to search for sites in your
area.
- Text "food" to 877-877.
To learn more, please visit the Summer Food
Service Program website or contact MDE Food and Nutrition Services (mde.fns@state.mn.us), or call at 651-582-8526 or 1-800-366-8922 (toll-free).
This institution is an equal opportunity provider. View USDA’s
nondiscrimination statement.
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