The Michigan departments of Education (MDE); Health & Human Services (DHHS); and Agriculture & Rural Development (MDARD) – along with their local partners – announce the availability of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) for children across the state.
This program is crucial for the hundreds of thousands of Michigan students who rely on the federal school meals program during the school year. Once the final school bell rings, over 700 SFSP sites across Michigan help to bridge that gap until the start of school next fall.
Last year, 563,000 low-income Michigan children received meals during the school year, but less than 100,000 of those children (17.5%) ate meals or snacks at approved summer meal sites in their neighborhoods.
“Too many families across Michigan are struggling, and we can’t have children going hungry in the summer when programs like this are available,” said State Superintendent Mike Flanagan, in stressing the importance of these crucial summer food programs for children. “Making families aware and informed is vital to keeping kids fed and healthy.”
MDE provides the SFSP Site Locator Map, which allows families to identify the nearest Meet Up and Eat Up™ site, including information about locations, meal types, times, and driving directions. The map can be found at www.michigan.gov/meetupeatup.
In partnership with Michigan No Kid Hungry and the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, people at any location in Michigan can also locate the Meet Up and Eat Up™ site nearest them by dialing 2-1-1 from any landline or mobile phone. Call centers across the state access the MDE Site Locator Map to provide callers with the most up-to-date information.
Additionally, Michigan No Kid Hungry is again sponsoring a text message resource. Mobile phone users can text “Food” to 877-877 and receive the most up-to-date site location information. Standard text messaging rates apply.
Read the full article on the MPCA website: http://www.mpca.net/news/234539/Meet-Up-and-Eat-Up—Summer-Meals-for-Kids.htm