Free Meals for Local Kids This Summer

Today is Summer Meals Awareness Day and the Food Bank of the Southern Tier held a press conference at St. Ambrose Church in Endicott to announce where kids can get free breakfast and lunch this summer.

Now that school's out a lot of the kids who depend on free or reduced-price meals at school will need to seek other options. According to the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, one in four children in Broome County is at risk of hunger. Across the Southern Tier, 56% of children are enrolled in free and reduced-price school meal programs. Last summer alone there were 156 partner sites that served more than 332,000 meals to children in Broome and Tioga counties.

This summer, in Broome County alone there are 17 different locations where children 18 and under can go for a free breakfast and or lunch. No application is required but the meals must be eaten on site. Each location has different dates and times of availability. Click here for a full list of locations and times in Broome County.

This year, Tioga County has 19 different locations with some serving breakfast and lunch, some just serving lunch, and some serving dinners. Click here for a full list of locations and times of service in Tioga County.

If you need more information you can call 211 for help in both Broome and Tioga County. 332,000 meals is a lot to serve over the summer. If you would like to help offset that cost, you can make donations to the Food Bank of the Southern Tier. Visit the Food Bank's website, or call 607-796-6061 for more info or to donate.

No kid should have to go without food, and thankfully, with the Summer Meals program, they won't have to. If someone you know is struggling to feed their children, please make them aware of this program.

[via The Food Bank of the Southern Tier]