Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 6, 2008: Summer meal programs help keep kids energetic
By DANI MCCLAIN
dmcclain@journalsentinel.com
Posted: July 6, 2008
Toni Houston۪s 8-year-old son does well in school. He۪s never been at risk of failing a grade.
But last week, Rapheal started his third year in summer school at Bethune Academy, 1535 N. 35th St., his mother said. Academic enrichment is a big draw, but the two free meals a day he gets through Milwaukee Public Schools۪ summer food program are a lifesaver.
“That way I know he۪ll eat on the weekend,” Houston said, referring to the money the four-day-a-week program saves her. “It۪s a big help. It takes a village to raise a child, and this is the village.”
For parents such as Houston, summer months bring the challenge of stretching modest incomes to pay for weekday breakfasts and lunches meals that are subsidized for more than three-fourths of MPS students during the academic year.
Despite recent changes in the policies governing distribution, the district۪s summer food service continues to keep unaccompanied youths from crowding soup kitchen lines when school۪s out.
This year, the Hunger Task Force and other area nonprofits have stepped in to fill gaps in the U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded program.
Last year, more than 395,000 summer meals were provided to local youths 18 and younger, costing the federal agency just less than $920,000, said Sandra Procopio, a supervising dietitian for MPS. Contributions from local groups such as the Harley-Davidson Foundation supplement the USDA funding, allowing Hunger Task Force to continue serving meals around the city through its Fueling Young Minds program before summer school starts in late June and after programming ends July 31.
Last Monday, dozens of children lined up in Bethune Academy۪s cafeteria waiting to fill their trays with chicken nuggets, french fries and pineapple chunks.
Just more than 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade are enrolled in summer school at Bethune, which is one of the largest programs in the city. Those students can eat breakfast in the half hour before school starts, and lunch is served at noon, when classes end. The cafeteria is also open to neighborhood youths 18 and younger. About a dozen children who aren۪t enrolled in summer school come each day in search of the free meal, said Sue Hein, Bethune Academy۪s kitchen manager.
The greatest need for food assistance usually comes after Aug. 1, when summer school is over and nearly half the district۪s food sites close until regular academic programming starts up, said Sherrie Tussler, Hunger Task Force۪s executive director. That۪s when she and her staff hand out boxed lunches in neighborhood parks.
“Kids are hungry the full 11 weeks of summer,” Tussler said.
Evening hours also pose a challenge to children who can۪t assume they will get dinner at home.
Last summer, 19 MPS sites served a third meal through the Child and Adult Care Food Program, another USDA-funded poverty-alleviation effort. But this year, because of tightened restrictions mandating that the program subsidize dinners in day care settings only, the number of sites is down to seven. MPS students are still eligible for the meal, but they have to find one of the seven places in the city that serve it.
The solution would be for Wisconsin to become a Child and Adult Food Care Program pilot state, as are Illinois and Michigan, Tussler said. Since 2004, all after-school programs in seven states are authorized to serve free dinners as long as at least half of children in that area are eligible for subsidized meals during the school year.
If Tussler can get Wisconsin added to that list of states this fall when the federal Child Nutrition Act is up for reauthorization, Milwaukee۪s youths could get free dinner at Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA sites and other after-school programs in the central city, she said.
“It۪s really sort of the silver bullet on all of this,” Tussler said.
Milwaukee families can dial 211 to find the food distribution center nearest them.