NEWS RELEASE

School ended early. Hunger started early for children who rely on school meals.

Because of COVID-19, summer food programs already have started. Treasure Coast Food Bank is seeking partners to expand its Summer Meals program that provides nutritious food to children when school is closed.

 This year, with COVID-19 causing so many people to lose work, Treasure Coast Food Bank is expecting greater need for the program across Indian River, Martin, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties. Treasure Coast Food Bank’s goal is to offer the program in partnership with social service agencies, faith-based organizations, summer camps, and others to provide easy access for kids throughout the region.

To participate, the site requirements are:

• Complete Treasure Coast Food Bank’s Independent Online Summer Meals Training
• Provide a sheltered, supervised area for eating or Grab-N-Go style meal distributions. All sites must implement social distancing measures.
• Serve meals to children
• Supervise meal service at your site
• Keep daily records of meals served

Treasure Coast Food Bank provides all the food fresh each day to the sites. The program includes breakfast, lunch, and snacks to children 18 and younger at no cost to them. Each site can select which two options it wants to provide.

Meals typically include fresh-made sandwiches and wraps, hand-made salads, and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables made daily in Treasure Coast Food Bank’s food production kitchen.

For more information or to register, please visit stophunger.org/sfsp or contact Program Coordinator Jade Alexander Program at ealexander@tcfoodbank.org or 561-771-6213

ABOUT TREASURE COAST FOOD BANK

Treasure Coast Food Bank is the only food bank and largest hunger relief organization on Florida’s Treasure Coast, providing the community each year with millions of meals valued at more than $50 million through robust programs and in partnership with 400 charitable organizations in Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, and Okeechobee counties. In addition to emergency food distribution, Treasure Coast Food Bank operates a full roster of direct service programs that not only solve the immediate problem of hunger, but help individuals and families gain long-term food security, better health outcomes, and self-sufficiency. Treasure Coast Food Bank is a member of Feeding America, the nationwide network of 200 food banks that leads the fight against hunger in the United States. For more information on Treasure Coast Food Bank, call 772.489.3034, log on to stophunger.org, visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/tcfoodbank, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/tcfoodbank.

Children enjoy meals and entertainment at the 2019 kickoff of Summer Meals held at Treasure Coast Food Bank’s Your Plate Health and Education Center in Fort Pierce.