120,000-plus children in Orange County risk going hungry this summer, report says

More than 120,000 children in Orange County are at risk for hunger during the summer months as a result of losing access to free and reduced-price lunches once school lets out, a new report from California Food Policy Advocates finds.

According to the Los Angeles-based nonprofit, while 143,097 low-income children across the county receive free or reduced-price lunches during the school year, more than 86% of them — 123,364 children— lose access to essential meals during the summer months.

“Oftentimes we think about the summer as this kind of idyllic situation where children get to run around, have freedom, play and explore — and for many children that is true,” said Anna Colby, nutrition policy advocate and author of the report.

“But for a lot of low-income children, it comes with the additional burden of losing access to the support that school provides — one of them being healthy meals and adequate nutrition.”

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

National School Lunch Program, which provides free and reduced-price lunches during the school year, continues to provide free meals for children throughout the summer at a variety of sites, including schools and community centers, Colby explained.

Orange County has 194 summer meal locations, including Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, schools, parks, libraries and the Bowers Kidseum.

Last year, the sites served 581,308 lunches and 206,951 breakfasts — all of them free — to local children, according to data from the California Department of Education.

The problem, however, is that many low-income children still have difficulty reaching these sites — or don’t know that the federally funded summer meal program exists.

“The reason is not the lack of funds,” said Colby. “It’s more of an infrastructure issue, or an outreach issue. It’s about getting the children to these sites and making sure there are enough sites to meet the needs of our low-income children.”

But summer meal program sponsors around the county say they’re working to get the word out and grow the number of sites so that more children can benefit from free meals.

Agnes Lally, director of the food services program at Garden Grove Unified School District — where more than 67% of students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches — said that the district is serving more and more children each year.

Six years ago, the district’s summer meal program served about 40,000 meals at nine sites, and this year, it’s up to 60,000 meals at 22 sites.

“The fact that we saw a huge increase in the number served in the last several years means the word is getting out and more people are getting to know that this service exists,” she said.

Ellie Nedry, community programs supervisor for Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, agreed, noting that in four years Second Harvest expanded from 31 to 50 sponsored locations, which now includes “creative” sites like low-income apartment complexes.

“We’re trying to figure out where kids are already going and adding to that,” Nedry said.

While getting the word about the summer meal program out may be difficult, once kids are on-site, getting food is not.

The easiest way to find a summer meal site, said Nedry, is to text the word “food” to 877-877 (or “comida” for instructions in Spanish). After a prompt, users can enter their zip code to receive a list of the closest summer meal sites and their operation times.

Then all kids need to do to get a free meal is to show up.

“The kids don’t have to do anything,” said Nedry. “They don’t have to show income verification. The sites are open to anyone 18 and under, and they just have to come during the serving time. And they just have to eat their food there and that’s it.”

CAITLIN YOSHIKO KANDIL is a contributor to Times Community News.