KCAO Summer Food Program Serves 10,490 Meals Across Kings County

This summer, KCAO’s Summer Food Services Program helped ensure children and teens across Kings County continued to have access to nutritious meals while school was out.

From June through early August, KCAO served 3,957 breakfasts and 6,533 lunches, for a total of 10,490 meals across nine summer meal sites. Meals were provided at no cost to youth ages 18 and under at locations throughout Kings County, including sites in Hanford, Lemoore, Stratford, and Avenal.

The Summer Food Services Program, also known as SFSP, provides nutritious meals during the summer months when school breakfast and lunch programs are not available. Meals meet federal nutrition guidelines and include appropriate servings of milk, meat, fruit, vegetables, and grains.

For many families, the program helps fill an important need during the summer.

“There are a lot of children that don’t have meals during the summertime,” said Raquel Perez, Recreation Leader III with the City of Hanford. “We do get a lot of members of the public over here, not just the kids in our youth program.”

At the Hanford site, breakfast was served from 8:30 to 9 a.m. and lunch from noon to 12:30 p.m. Perez said children did not have to be enrolled in the summer camp program to receive meals. Families could visit during mealtimes and let staff know they were there for the food program.

In Avenal, the program also supported children enrolled in local youth programming as well as families from the surrounding community. Emma Silva, Youth Program Coordinator with the City of Avenal, said the meals helped ensure children had access to balanced food during the day.

“They’re at least guaranteed a balanced breakfast and lunch,” Silva said. “That’s a huge benefit to not only our youth program but also to the community of Avenal, making sure that the kids are getting something that is healthy for them. It’s important for the community to know there are resources out there and people that are willing to help, and we are grateful for having KCAO.”

By providing free breakfast and lunch throughout the summer, KCAO’s Summer Food Services Program helps reduce food insecurity, support families, and keep children healthy and nourished while school is out.

KCAO is grateful to the staff, community partners, and meal site teams who helped make this year’s program possible and ensured thousands of meals reached children and teens across Kings County.