More than 1,300 sites offering free meals for kids this summer in SC
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Right now, there are more than a thousand places across South Carolina where any kid can get free meals over the summer.
It comes at a time when families who depend on school breakfasts and lunches might be trying to figure out how to make ends meet with schools closed for the summer.
“When summer comes, school is out, but the café is in,” Nancy Bradshaw Davis with Francis Burns United Methodist Church in Columbia said.
All across South Carolina, that’s the Summer Break Café, one of two types of federally funded summer meal programs administered by the state Department of Education.
These sites step in to fill the gaps left when school is out to be sure kids don’t go hungry.
“Our programs are very important,” Donna Davis, the director of the SCDE’s Office of Health and Nutrition, said. “They have been around for a long time, ensuring that food insecurity is not an issue over the summer.”
On Thursday, State Superintendent Ellen Weaver visited a Summer Break Café at TyJasKey Academic Enrichment’s summer program in Richland County, celebrating the governor proclaiming this week “Summer Break Café Awareness Week” in South Carolina.
All Summer Break Cafés provide free meals to any kid 18 and younger.
“Some of these children, that will be the only meal that they get, and we are very much aware of that,” TyJasKey Academic Enrichment Education Director Mattie DeBramaletta said.
There are more than 1,300 hundred of these sites across the state.
A map on the South Carolina Department of Education’s website shows where they are located, when they are open, and what meals they offer.
“A hungry child cannot learn,” Davis said.
Summer Break Cafés are operated by sponsors, such as nonprofits and community partners, who are reimbursed by the US Department of Agriculture.
Francis Burns United Methodist Church has been a sponsor for nearly two decades in the Columbia area, with 45 summer meal sites on its plate this year, including the TyJasKey one.
Nancy Bradshaw Davis, Francis Burns UMC’s Summer Break Café director, said they are on track to surpass the 100,000-plus meals and snacks they served last summer.
“It’s a very fulfilling process,” she said. “It’s lots of work, lots of planning, but we do it from the depths of our hearts because it truly is all about feeding the children.”
The other type of meal program available is the Seamless Summer Program, which is the same as the National School Lunch Program and available at schools and community centers.
Like Summer Break Cafés, Seamless Summer Program sites are also open to any kid 18 and younger.
South Carolinians can find a summer meal site near them by visiting the South Carolina Department of Education’s website here, calling 1-866-3-HUNGRY (348-6479), or by texting “FOOD” to 304-304.
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