Eagle County Schools announced today that it will provide critical summer food service in partnership with InteGreat! – the coalition of 28 community organizations serving the needs of families in Eagle County – through the launch of the Summer Foods Service Program (SFSP) beginning June 22.
The pilot program, a collaborative effort of Youth Foundation, Vail Valley Medical Center, and many other community organizations participating in the InteGreat! coalition, will provide essential summer meals to children of Eagle County. The SFSP is designed to replace the school lunch program during the summer months, so that children have access to the same nutritious meals that they rely on during the school year.
“Summer should be a fun and enriching time for our kids,” said Jason Glass, Superintendent of Eagle County Schools. “But for many, it represents a time when children are at the greatest risk of hunger, losing access to school meals and other support systems we have in place at our schools during the rest of the year.” The SFSP will be offered at three ECS sites: Avon Elementary, Eagle Valley High School and Homestake Peak School. As “open sites,” Avon Elementary and EVHS will provide meals for free to any child ages 0 through 18, while Homestake Peak is considered a “closed site,” meaning that service is provided only for students enrolled in summer programming offered at the school.
Youth Foundation’s Summer PwrHrs for elementary and middle school students, Great Start pre-school programming, and ECS high school summer school have over 800 students enrolled during the summer. These combined with children participating in other summer activity programs throughout the county has organizers anticipating serving more than 15,000 meals this summer through SFSP. “For our pilot year we worked with ECS to select locations that would be geographically and programmatically advantageous, so that we could serve the needs of the most children possible.” said Melisa Rewold-Thuon, VP Education at Youth Foundation.
The SFSP is funded by the USDA and locally supported by the Colorado Department of Education and Hunger Free Colorado. It was established as a safeguard for children who may not know when or where they will get their next meal, filling the nutritional gap during the summer months. Free, nutritious meals that meet federal nutrition guidelines are provided to children and teenagers at designated sites across Colorado. “One in five children in Eagle County struggles with food insecurity,” said Nico Brown of the Vail Valley Medical Center, a key participant on the organizing committee. “Each day, families in our community worry about having enough money to put quality, healthy food on the table. In order to ensure the success of our children in the Vail Valley, we must address these basic needs.”