Bag Summer Hunger

For most children, summer vacation is the most anticipated time of the year, however for over 10,000 children in Ulster County this is also a time of worry. This is the number of children that receive free or reduced breakfast and lunch in Ulster County schools. Families on tight budgets have difficulty absorbing the additional meal costs while school is out of session, leading to children experiencing hunger, malnutrition and anxiety.

Our program: BAG SUMMER HUNGER, will provide additional food for families with school age children in Ulster County. The food options supplied will feature fresh, summer seasonal local produce, dairy products from the Hudson Valley, and an assortment of whole grain breads baked regionally for breakfast and/or lunch. These nutritional powerhouse foods will ensure not only a full belly, but will provide much needed vitamins and nutrients for healthy growth over the summer months. Presenting these food options will instill and promote healthy food choice habits. An additional feature to this program is the "Feel Good & Eat Healthy" coloring book that reviews and reinforces healthy food choices in an age appropriate and enjoyable manner.

We are reach out to all the school districts in Ulster County in June and ask them to distribute flyers regarding this program to students. 

To feed a child a healthy breakfast and lunch costs approximately $5.60 per day. Last year this program provided over 31,000 meals to children in our community. 

Please help us fund this extremely important program.

"This program has been a life saver to my family. My husband has cancer and cannot work right now. This food has helped us feed our children this summer. and removed some financial burden." - A thankful mom. 

"The Summer food program for the children is especially important since the children are not able to receive meals at school during this time. We all know how much growing, healthy children need to eat." - A full time working mother.