The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is looking for organizations to help feed children during the summer.
The DHSS summer program provides meals to children under the age of 18 while school is not in session.
The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri participates in the DHSS summer program, and fed just under 3,600 Boone County children in the summer of 2018.
DHSS Chief of Public Information Lisa Cox says that there is a great need for the program.
“Many thousands of Missouri kids really rely on the school meals to be fed,” Cox said. “It’s just been discovered that over the years that summer time is especially vital that we get those children fed. It is a problem, it’s a nationwide problem but it’s also a problem in Missouri with children all over the state.”
In the summer of 2018 the program had 304 sponsors. The sponsors had 1,384 feeding site throughout the state.
According to the Food and Research Action Center, currently about 1 in 7 of the children who qualify for free or reduced price school meals has access to a summer meal.
Organizations eligible to help are faith based organizations, camps, private nonprofit agencies, schools and local government agencies.
DHSS will be accepting applications March 1 through May 15 to participate in the program.