No Kid Hungry awards $284,000 to schools, nonprofits to combat summer hunger in rural communities across Virginia
~ PVN staff report
LURAY — Virginia’s chapter of No Kid Hungry announced this week that Page County Public Schools would receive $21,500 to combat summer hunger. PCPS was one of 14 recipients across the commonwealth spanning school districts and non-profit organizations. The larger grant initiative totaled $284,000 in distributions.
“Summer should be full of sunshine and playtime, not worrying about empty pantries,” said Sarah Steely, Director of No Kid Hungry Virginia. “These summer meal flexibilities offer a tremendous opportunity to reach more children in rural communities, who have traditionally had a much harder time accessing summer meal sites. These grants will help strengthen programs, enabling teams to provide summer meals in the way they know work best for their community.”
Funds will support organizations with staffing, meal delivery, updated equipment, transportation costs and expanding outreach. This year, more school districts and nonprofits serving rural communities have a new tool to reach kids this summer: Non-congregate summer meal options. New federal policy changes allow organizations to provide flexible options like multi-day meal distribution and deliveries to reach kids in more remote areas of the state.
Approximately 1 in 7 kids face food insecurity in Virginia and summer can be one of the hungriest times of year for the thousands of kids who receive free and reduced-price meals during the school year. Summer meal programs help fill the gap, but have historically only reached a fraction of the kids who rely on them due to barriers like transportation, fuel costs, extreme weather and parent work schedules. Challenges are especially pronounced in rural areas, where children often live far from the nearest meal site.
The latest non-congregate flexibilities are an exciting opportunity to expand the reach of summer meals and provide more children with much-needed nutrition during the summer months, according to No Kid Hungry.
To learn more, visithttps://state.nokidhungry.org/virginia
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For more information on Page County Public Schools,
visit https://www.pagecounty.k12.va.us/o/pcps
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