Summer Meal Planning Begins Now

Summer break will be here soon! While it's a relief for many who work in K-12 schools, it can be unsettling for kids, especially those whose families are food insecure. Your school or organization can help close the hunger gap when school is out by either offering free summer meals or simply sharing the information on where kids can find free meals in your area (see sidebar for sharing information with others).

Offering Summer Meals

If you want to explore offering summer meals, It doesn't have to be hard - CKC Good Food will be with you every step of the way.

Summer meals can be offered through two USDA programs:

• Seamless Summer Option (SSO), for schools serving meals under the National School Lunch Program during the school year. It's "seamless" because it allows schools to follow the same operational and nutritional guidelines during the summer that they abide by during the school year.
• Summer Food Service Program (SFSP or Sun Meals), which is for schools, nonprofit organizations, youth enrichment programs, day camps and the like. SFSP, the primary program for summer, provides a higher reimbursement rate and has looser nutritional guidelines than the NSLP/SSO.

(The USDA compares the two programs in this document.)

In both programs, sites are designated either "open" or "enrolled" sites. "Open" sites provide food to any kids 18 years old and younger in area-eligible locations; "enrolled" sites provide food only to kids registered in youth enrichment programming through the feeding-site organization. In both cases, kids must eat meals in groups at the site location.

Summer meal programs are administered by "sponsors" while food is provided at "feeding sites." Sponsors can oversee multiple feeding sites. If you'd like to be a SFSP feeding site and do not have a sponsoring organization to administer your program, contact us to ask if we know of a sponsor willing to oversee your site.

Important Dates

• February – MDE posts updated SFSP application instructions
• Mid-February – Area Eligibility Map  is updated for summer 2025
• Mid-March – 2025 SFSP Training becomes available
• April 1 - Nonprofit organizations that will apply to be a new SFSP sponsor need to submit preliminary information
• End of March – SFSP applications are available in CLiCS
• May 1 – New SFSP sponsor applications are due in CLiCS
• May 15 – Renewing SFSP Sponsor Applications are due in CLiCS
• June 15 – New/Additional SFSP Site Applications are due in CLiCS

(See MDE's summer meal webpage.)

Resources for Offering Summer Meals

• MDE's Outreach and Promotion webpage
• USDA Promotional Resources

Help Spread the Word

Help those in your care find free summer meals by sharing one or more of the following resources:

Cafeteria Connection: School's Out and Free Summer Meals Are In!

Hunger Impact Partners' free mobile app helps connect kids to free meals in Minnesota. Share the flyer and the video, both are available in multiple languages.

Text: “food” or “comida” to 877-877  

Call: 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479)

Se Habla Espanol: 1-877-8-HAMBRE
(1-877-842-6273)