Keeping youth fed during the summer

A partnership is helping youngsters on summer vacation remain fed. The Summer Food Program is now feeding school age children at sites located across the Milwaukee area.
The annual effort is a collaboration of organizations that include the Social Development Commission, the Hunger Task Force, Boys & Girls Clubs, Milwaukee Public Schools, West Allis/West Milwaukee Schools, the Salvation Army and Heartlove Place. The effort prepares and delivers meals to sites across the area where children spend the months of summer vacation.
The goal of the program, which is supported by the Kohl’s Foundation, is to provide food to youth who during the school year rely on school meals to keep from going hungry. 1,900 meals a day are prepared at the Social Development Commission’s Food Service program and delivered to summer program sites. Those meals include breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners. A new addition for the Summer Food Program this year is a brunch served at five Milwaukee Recreation sites.
The meals are prepared at SDC with the help of 16 Earn and Learn youth who are getting paid while gaining valuable work experience in a program coordinated by the City of Milwaukee. The young workers help with the creation, packing and delivery of the food to participating sites.
One of those summer meal sites is the Reclaiming Our Youth summer program at WestCare’s Harambee Community Center at 4th and Wright. There young girls enrolled in the program are able to refuel with the lunches provided through the summer program.
To learn more about SDC’s Food Service and the Summer Food Program, visit www.cr-sdc.org/index/Programs–Services/Support-Services/SDC_Food_Program.htm.