A youth receives a free lunch at a family barbecue at the City Heights Recreation Center. Courtesy photo.
SAN DIEGO–The City of San Diego and the San Diego Unified School District served its one millionth free lunch this afternoon at a family barbecue at the City Heights Recreation Center since the summer program began 13 years ago.
Hundreds attended the event, which also featured a craft fair, nonprofit informational booths providing information and free resources for the public, and free fruits and vegetables provided by Feeding America and the San Diego Food Bank.
Since 2003, the City’s Park and Recreation Department has partnered with San Diego Unified School District and its Summer Fun Café program in an effort to provide nutritious meals and promote healthy eating habits to kids aged 18 and under throughout the City. This year, the City provided 34 locations for the summer lunch program. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Seamless Summer Feeding Option.
“This program is all about providing more opportunities for San Diego’s families and children who would otherwise go without lunch during the summer months when school is out,” said Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer. “Each meal makes a difference and through this partnership between the city and school district we’ve now been able to make a million differences.”
The San Diego Unified School District has expanded the Summer Fun Café program to provide nutritious meals to children while school is not in session when kids would have access to free or reduced price lunches. The program follows nutrition guidelines and offers children whole grain rich products, low fat and fat free milk, 100 percent fruit and/or vegetable juices and a variety of fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables.
“Students need access to healthy food all year long, not just when school is in session,” said Superintendent Cindy Marten. “The summer meal program helps to ensure children continue receiving adequate nutrition during summer so that they return to the upcoming school year ready to learn, grow and thrive.”
The City continues to find ways to provide healthy food options to areas in the most need. This summer, the City partnered with South Bay Union School District in an effort to bring similar programming to five recreation centers in the South Bay area as well as the Hunger Coalition to try and increase participation in Southeast San Diego. As a result, more than 10,000 meals have been served this summer. Recently, the City received a grant from the National Recreation and Park Association and the Walmart Foundation to provide a free LEAN (Leveraging Education, Activity and Nutrition) Kids program at 17 sites throughout the City as part of a larger effort to impact childhood obesity by providing programming that keeps kids active and educated about how to make healthy food choices. For its efforts in addressing this increasing issue, the City recently received an Award of Excellence for its participation in the program last year.
