MOUNT RAINIER, Md. — Capital Area Food Bank wants to make sure students across the D.C. region have access to healthy and nutritious food while they’re on summer vacation.
It's summertime, and many children are out of school. The Capital Area Food Bank knows food can be the fuel children need to help keep them active and motivated throughout the day.
According to the Food Hunger Report of 2022, nearly half of all households with children faced food insecurity last year.
Staff and volunteers for the Capital Area Food Bank are working hard to make sure students across the region can receive meals at no cost all summer.
The summer meal kicked off with a family event Wednesday, July 13, from noon to 2 p.m. at Queenstown Community Center in Mount Rainer, Maryland - one of 30 sites by the food bank in the DMV.
The event featured a free barbecue, music, face painting for kids and an appearance by DC Divas.
"We're here to support the Capital Area Food Bank because we know healthy food is not only important to athletes but everyone," said D.C. Diva Felicia Donelson.
"There is a big need here in our community with everything going on with the pandemic, thankfully we have Capital Area Food Bank helping us, said Mario Cirilio the site coordinator at the community center which serves 40 children in its after-school club and summer camp.
"Food is so expensive," said Dinga Ngemi, "It helps even moms who cannot afford it, it really helps them too a lot.
"We're seeing a lot of results of the pandemic, inflation rates gas rates. I know right now we're serving about 50% more than our baseline pre-pandemic," said Alexis Lahr senior program manager of After School and Summer Meals Program.
According to the below chart by Capital Area Food Bank, meals served during the height of the pandemic in 2021 more than doubled the 2019 numbers at 64.6 Million meals. While numbers have dropped some, the Food Bank is still on track to serve 46.3 Million meals to neighbors in need this year.
The Capital Area Food Bank wants families to know where they can find these summer meal sites in their neighborhoods by going to these two sites: KidsMealsDMV.org and ComidasParaNinos.org. These two websites have interactive maps that show when and where kids can get free meals this summer.
The free meals don't stop when summer is over. The Capital Area Food Bank still provides afterschool and weekend meals programs during the school year with these two initiatives: Kids Café and Weekend Bag.