Summer meal programs available for local kids

JACKSON, Tenn. — A quarter of Tennessee children may be at risk of hunger, according to Feeding America.

Workers stacked food Friday at the Regional Inter-Faith Association. “We serve over 1,000 kids a week during the school year, and then in the summertime we service three Boys & Girls Clubs,” RIFA Volunteer Coordinator Dan Ward said.

Ward said RIFA provides 120 snack backpacks every week for seven weeks of the summer. Each backpack contains six meals, enough to feed a child over the weekend. “You have pop-top ravioli,” Ward said. “You have pop-top chicken noodle soup. You have microwave popcorn.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture funds a summer food service program administered by the Tennessee Department Human Services. Operation Hope Neighborhood Ministries is one of dozens of sites in the Jackson area serving food this summer.

“For parents, a lot of them simply wouldn’t have the funds to be able to provide the meals that they would like to provide,” Operation Hope Neighborhood Ministries President Bruce Hussey said.

Hussey said they have about 118 kids this summer. They give them a safe place to go plus breakfast, lunch and a snack. “Some of the children, this would be their primary chance to be able to have a meal every day,” Hussey said.

Ward said RIFA also sees more kids come through the soup kitchen during the summer months. “There’s no processing,” Ward said. “There’s not anything. Only requirement is show up and we feed you.”

The RIFA Soup Kitchen is open 365 days a year.

The Tennessee Department of Human Services said more than 3.6 million meals were served last summer at more than 2,300 meal sites across the state.

Specific meal site hours of operation vary. To find out where summer meal locations are in your area, visit the USDA Food and Nutrition Service website, the services directory at www.kidcentraltn.com, or text “food” to 877-877.