Where do students who rely on free cafeteria meals eat during summertime?

Amid talk of cuts to the federal education budget that would mean the end of many community-benefit programs, the Sacramento CIty Unified School District served tens of thousands of free meals to area youth through the USDA’s Summer Food Service. The district offered breakfast and lunch at 47 locations weekdays from late June through early August.

“It’s a core necessity to eat well,” said SCUSD spokesperson Alex Barrios, explaining that students who can’t afford to do so may receive free or reduced-priced lunches at their cafeteria while school is in session. “But during the summer school gets out, and a population of our students don’t have anywhere to go. That’s where this program came from: The need to make sure those kids continue to have access to healthy meals.”

Indeed, the Summer Food Service provided approximately 1500 breakfasts and 2200 lunches per day in Sacramento this summer, according to the district. The program supports kids with varying levels of food insecurity. “We have some regulars,” said Barrios, but also “kids who happen to wake up that day and realize ‘Wait a second, what am I going to eat today?’”

The future of the Summer Food Service is uncertain. While there is currently no proposal to axe this specific program, the Trump administration has proposed massive cuts to the education budget, cuts that consist primarily of reductions to after-school and summer services.

 Losing the Summer Food Service would have major implications for the Sacramento area -- more than 20% of children in Sacramento County are food insecure, according to the Healthy Communities Institute.
“A society can be judged on how it treats its young, old, and vulnerable,” said SCUSD School Board Trustee Ellen Cochrane. “It's up to all of us to make sure that our leaders reflect values of basic human decency.”