It is estimated that 13.2 percent of Hall County and 15 percent of Lumpkin County families report "difficulty affording food." In fact, in Gainesville City, Hall County and Lumpkin County schools, the number of children qualified to receive free or reduced meals hovers at 60 percent.
In order to ensure that some of the counties most at-risk children receive healthy summer lunches for the eight-week break from school, GMFB is partnering with University of North Georgia (UNG) in the Summer Feeding Service Program (SFSP), a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutritional Division.
Through this partnership, GMFB plans to provide healthy lunch meals to 500-700 kids each day throughout the summer in Hall County and Lumpkin County.
"It is our task to not only provide food to these children, but healthy and nutritious meals" says Kay Blackstock, executive director of GMFB. " Last year, our program was able to feed just more than 13,000 meals to children at our sites in Lumpkin and Hall Counties. This year, through our partnership with University of North Georgia, we expect those numbers to double."
Summer feeding sites supported by GMFB are targeted to provide the under-served children and neighborhoods. This year the sites include:
Hall County:
Boys & Girls Club
The North Hall High School boys' basketball team arrived Friday morning at 7:30 to help pack over 500 sack lunches for the Summer Lunch Bags Program. (Courtesy Georgia Mountain Food Bank)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/6/262321