March 06, 2017

NJ serves up more summer meals

Last summer, more New Jersey children received meals during the summer – a time when many children face hunger because they do not have access to school meals.

According to ACNJ’s just-released Summer Meals Update, New Jersey fed nearly 84,000 children on an average day in July 2016 through three federal summer meals programs. That means an average of about 4,700 more children received a summer meal each day, translating to 6 percent increase over July 2015.

Read our summer meals update.

The New Jersey New Jersey Department of Agriculture is still recruiting sites and sponsors for Summer 2017. Be part of combating summertime hunger by contacting department officials at 609-292-4498, SFSPCommunication@ag.state.nj.us.

How are your schools doing on breakfast?

Today kicks off National School Breakfast Week – and we have a lot to celebrate! Over the past six years, school breakfast participation has soared 77 percent, elevating the state to 19th nationally, up from 46th when the NJ Food for Thought Campaign was launched in 2011.
But we’re not finished yet.

About 300,000 low-income children are still missing out on school breakfast. Advocates for Children of New Jersey, as campaign co-leader, annually publishes participation data for every school district with at least 20 percent of students eligible for free or low-cost school meals. Local advocates across New Jersey have used these statistics to convince school officials to switch to serving breakfast after the bell, which ensures that more children begin their school day with a nutritious meal.

Become a local school breakfast champ! Use the data and our advocacy tools to influence your local officials to serve breakfast in a way that reaches more students.

Access data.

Access advocacy tools.

For assistance, contact Reginald Dorsey, state outreach coordinator, rdorsey@acnj.org.