Summer Meals Participation Report 2010

New report shows Oregon children missing out on summer meals

In summer of 2010, Oregon made strides toward increasing access to meals for children during the summer months.  However, this report shows that just a fraction of Oregon children who rely on free and reduced price school lunches get food assistance during the summer when hunger increases most. Out of 100 kids who ate free or reduced price meals last year, only one in five (20 percent) got a meal through USDA Summer Meal Programs.

This annual report tracks county-by-county participation in the Summer Food Service Program, a federal program launched in 1968 to address childhood hunger when school is out. Free meals are served to children and youth ages 1-18 years at sites such as summer schools and parks in low-income neighborhoods across the state. Studies by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show that food insecurity among families increases during summer and is higher in states with low participation in summer feeding programs.

Report highlights important gains:

• An 11% increase in the total number of meals served from 2009
• An additional 109 new meal sites
• 40,990 children participated daily in 2010 (2,156 more than in 2009)
• Oregon received close to $5.2 million in federal reimbursements

View the full 2010 Summer Food Participation Report (PDF, 423 KB) and methodology.

Also available is a Revised 2009 Summer Food Participation Report (PDF, 172 KB) and methodology.  In 2010, the analysis of the data provided by Oregon Department of Education was updated to eliminate duplicated numbers.  For comparison, the new methodology has been applied to the 2009 data. 

For more information about these reports contact Annie Kirschner at 503-595-5501 ext 304.