Summer comes and goes quickly for so many of us. Soon, as the weather cools down, we will leave behind the memories of visits to the ice cream shop and days at the pool.
For millions of kids and families, summer can seem like a long and difficult time. When schools close down for summer break, many kids lose access to essential meals that they receive in school, leaving families struggling with the high cost of food. But thanks to your donations, we are supporting organizations providing grab-and-go summer meals to kids and expanding programs like Summer-EBT (Sun Bucks) that help families with additional income to feed their kids.
Together, grab-and-go meals and Summer-EBT can help up to 31 million children in the US. Just last year, Summer-EBT helped 18 million kids nationwide. We have also seen how communities have tripled the number of meals they serve thanks to the flexibility of grab-and-go meals. Before 2023, families were required to have the kids eat on site, which led to low participation in summer meals programs. Today, rural communities are allowed to serve grab-and-go meals.
Behind these numbers are the stories of thousands of kids and families. This summer, we met Caysha Francis, a mom who is also going to school. Grab-and-go summer meals have given her and her husband breathing room so she can continue working towards her dream while ensuring Maverick grows big and strong. We also talked to Jose Delgado, a grandfather who takes care of his two granddaughters on a fixed income. The kids shared how summer meals help them be the best they can be – one girl shared that she feels good about herself and able to do anything. Jose knows these meals are essential for Avianna and Elisa as food prices keep climbing.
Getting meals to kids is not a simple task. Every day, volunteers and staff wake up early to prepare hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of meals for kids. They stand in extreme heat, humidity and heavy thunderstorms, many driving multiple hours a day to reach out to kids. No matter the conditions, families show up!
“It's usually the kids that make it worth it,” shared Ethan Luce, a young college student who came back to his community to help serve summer meals. “Just seeing them grab the meals and then when they say thank you for the meal, it means a lot to them that we gave them something that maybe they didn't have.”
The work happens in parks, community centers and along winding roads; it also happens in state capitols, in Washington, DC and government office buildings. Advocacy and technical support are essential to ensure kids have the meals they need to thrive in the summer. With your support, we expanded Summer-EBT; it’s now available in 37 states, the District of Columbia, all five U.S. territories and two Native American nations. Summer-EBT gives families with kids an additional $120 per kid for food during the summer. This supplemental support helps families stretch their food budget until the end of the month.
“My paychecks that I receive now are basically going to debt and my rent, and it's been hard,” said Joelanis Kercado, a mom in Jamestown, New York, praising Summer-EBT. “I wouldn't be able to feed my kids. I wouldn't wanna ever go through that. I'm grateful for those benefits out there because honestly we wouldn't probably have any food on our table.”
We understand that to end childhood hunger in America, we need to close the summer childhood hunger gap. Even as summer meals programs end across the nation, our work to prepare for summer 2026 continues. Ending summer hunger will remain one of our priorities. Stay tuned for more stories!
Ways You Can Help
- Donate: $1 can help provide 10 meals* for kids. Your support will help us fund meal programs all over the country and help us advocate for policies that will help kids get the meals they need. *Donations help support programs that feed kids; No Kid Hungry does not provide individual meals. Learn more at NoKidHungry.org/OneDollar .
