The Northern Illinois Food Bank is kicking off its annual “Free Summer Meals for Kids” program. It comes in partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education. That included a distribution Wednesday in at Ken-Rock Community Center in Rockford.
The lunch is part of a free summer meal program provided by the Northern Illinois Food Bank through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During the summer, families can get healthy, free meals for their kids, at 145 sites across 13 counties in Northern Illinois, with no registration, ID or proof of income required.
It’s a program that the area’s children need. That’s according to Child Food Programs Manager Jessica Willis.
“Summer is a critical time,” she said. “When the [school meal programs] let out for the summer months, there’s a huge gap, and questioning from families about where they might be able to get food during the summer."
Moysha Brown is the Assistant Director at Ken-Rock Community Center. She says the impact is tremendous, especially when looking at the big picture.
“It’s a lot to think about," she said, "because there are kids going without food every day.”
Brown says that she has seen the effects of children going hungry, including kids who try to take food home with them. She says that's because for some, the food they get at Ken-Rock could be the only meal they get during the day.
Ken-Rock serves breakfast and lunch every weekday, not just for the dozens of kids enrolled in her program, but also anyone under the age of 18 who wants food, including some teens who work at Ken-Rock.
The summer meal program isn’t the only way the Northern Illinois Food Bank is trying to help families in need. Organizers say they’re also getting the word out about another summer program where families can get $120 EBT per child to help buy groceries.
For more information about the Summer EBT benefit, reach out to the Northern Illinois Food Bank’s SNAP team at 844-600-7627 or snap@northernilfoodbank.org — or visit SolveHungerToday.org.
The programs come at a time when the federal government has proposed cuts to some social services that address food insecurity. Willis says while the summer meals program is not currently affected, she hopes it will stay that way, especially given how food helps children in and out of the classroom.
“Food for kids is the bottom line in order for them to grow, focus, concentrate, and excel in whatever they are growing up to be,” Willis said. “Without access to nutritious foods, it can cause obesity, disease, lack of focus and behavioral impacts. Everything is impacted.”
The “Free Summer Meals for Kids” program will continue through Aug. 15.
The Northern Illinois Food Bank is an underwriter of WNIJ.
