The partially federally-funded Summer Food Service Program provides billions of dollars to school districts for summer feeding programs nationwide, and the troubled economy is driving more and more parents and their children to those programs.

 

But with an increased demand come increased expenses, and it's getting harder for some school districts to afford the cost of those programs.

 

"The demand for summer feeding programs is really just exploding," said Carolyn Orr, CSG/ERC's agriculture consultant.

Vermont officials served more than 125,000 summer meals to children at 73 sites in 2007, for example. And in Delaware, more children are expected to take part in the program this year, according to Delaware officials.

 
"With unemployment rates at record highs, a troubled housing market and skyrocketing prices, many families will struggle to feed their children this summer," Patricia Beebe, Food Bank of Delaware's chief executive, said to the Camp Gazette newspaper.

 
The Council of State Governments Eastern Regional Conference plans to address summer feeding and farm to school programs at its upcoming 2009 Annual Meeting and Regional Policy Forum, held from August 2 to August 5 in Burlington Vt.

During the August 3rd breakfast meeting of CSG/ERC'S Education Committee and Northeast States Association for Agricultural Stewardship, NSAAS will address improving the nutrition and food habits of children, as well as the role of health and nutrition and the growing popularity of summer feeding programs.

Many feeding programs are also based on providing locally-grown food to children and a ready market for farmers. The Farm to School program is a joint project of the Urban & Environment Policy Institute at Occidental College and the Community Food Security Coalition, a non-profit organization in Oregon. The program helps educate students about local farms and promotes healthy eating habits in the classroom.

Equally as importantly, the program also provides a market for farmers in the area and helps reduce the environmental damages of delivering fresh food over long distances.
 
Typically, foods harvested in season are more nutritionally dense than foods harvested out of season, said Dana Hudson, the Northeast coordinator for the Farm to School program.

"How do we get food from local farms, into the schools, so that you're decreasing the mileage that the food is traveling," Hudson said. "Institutions are a really good market to be thinking about, as a stable market for farmers."

About 17 states have passed legislation supporting farm to school programs, Hudson said. The new laws include addressing health concerns, agricultural and education issues, she said.

Still, states and schools must pay a portion of summer feeding programs and increasingly, footing that bill has been tough.

In Vermont, the Burlington School District spends about $2.85 to $3.00 per meal a day during its summer feeding program - but typically receives less in reimbursement from the federal government, said Doug Davis, the school district's food service director.

For school districts that do not have summer feeding programs, finding ways to financially support a potential feeding program can be difficult, he said. "The choice you're left with is terrible," he said.  "Especially in an economy right now where school boards have to watch every penny."

The program serves 1,200 to 1,500 meals a day at more than 20 feeding sites in Burlington, Davis said.  The program also regularly serves children locally-grown food such as zucchini, strawberries and sugar-snap peas. The local food program brings children in touch with local farmers, while providing a ready market for Vermont farms, he said.

"What makes that successful is that the child has a connection to his or her own food system, and has a relationship with the farmer and the whole program," he said.  "It changes the direction of what we're able to do."

 

Still, not every school district in the Northeast can support feeding programs.  Davis said that more communities need to work together to promote summer feeding programs. 

 

"I see communities having to step up to do more to help out," he said. "We really need to create a system in which (children) are protected."

 

Others agreed. States will have to continue to work together to promote farm to school programs and summer feeding at the national level, said Hudson, the Farm to School's northeast coordinator.

"Energy, power and ownership issues still need to really happen at that localized level," she said.  "This is not just about kids eating better."