SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A recent SurveyUSA/10News poll shows 53% of San Diegans are worried about the cost of food, and that gets especially troublesome in the summer, when kids are out of school. Many families lose much needed support from free or reduced price meals at school. But a program through Feeding San Diego is working to make sure every kid has the "Fuel for Summer" they need.
"It's both heartwarming and heartbreaking," says Feeding San Diego CEO Vince Hall. "That summer meal we're able to provide is probably the first meal that they've had of the day."
1 in 6 children in San Diego faces hunger and food insecurity. The Fuel for Summer program provides meals that follow all federal nutritional guidelines. They include a protein, side, vegetable, fruit and healthy drink. Often, Hall says, they're introducing kids to foods they don't get on a regular basis.
"I went to one of the meals last summer," says Hall with a smile. "There were kids who'd never had a tamale, and had to be instructed on how to eat a tamale, and then they thought they were absolutely delicious."
The Fuel for Summer program has 16 sites, some feed as many as 200 kids every day. It's one less thing parents have to worry about as their kids play all summer.
"When you are struggling with the high cost of housing, you're struggling with the other high cost of living factors, Feeding San Diego is really focused on just making sure the basic nutritional elements of those children are taken care of," says Hall.
For more information, or to donate to the program, go to FeedingSanDiego.org.
