HARLEM — A program offering free summer meals is hoping to ease family budgets before kids head back to school.
The Community Kitchen in West Harlem, a program run by Food Bank For New York City at West 116th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, is creating a cafeteria for kids.
The organization is running its second-annual “Summer Meals” program aimed at filling the meal gap many children face when they’re out of school and not enrolled in summer camps or other programs, organizers say.
Triada Stampas, the organization's vice president for research and public affairs, said it could put children at a disadvantage if they don’t get enough nutrition leading up to a new school year — especially those from low-income backgrounds.
“These are the weeks that matter,” she said. “People in the community have not taken advantage of it.”
On average, about 20 families frequent the kitchen with their children daily, she said. But the organization is hoping to boost participation before school comes.
“This can take some of the pressure off of household budgets, especially for families who struggle to keep food on the table,” she said. “There’s this big gap that happens in the summer where these school-aged children that rely on these meals don’t have them.”
The organization estimates that one in five city kids, roughly 339,000, miss meals while school is out during the summer.
All children 18 and younger are eligible for the “Summer Meals” program, which runs on weekdays from 3 to 4 p.m. at The Community Kitchen in West Harlem until the end of August.
The organization partners with the city's Department of Education and receives assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program to provide summer meals to some other kitchens in its network throughout the city.
