Summer Meals Program Key Details:

🍽️ Meals are completely FREE for children and teens ages 18 and under.

🚫 No need for applications or registrations – it’s hassle-free!

📦 Meals can be picked up at designated locations, with options like grab-and-go, with up to 7 days’ worth of meals available at a time.

🏫 You can find us at designated public schools, community centers, libraries, parks, and even food trucks!

🌟 Our program is federally funded, ensuring accessibility for all.

🥗 Meals are healthy and follow USDA nutrition guidelines.

Key Strategies for Marketing & Promoting Your Sites

🌟 Host Community Events:

• Kick-off Celebration:
  • Feature a special menu to create a memorable start.
  • Include local leaders and partners to show community support.
  • Partner with local businesses for event giveaways like beach balls, sunglasses, frisbees, water bottles, and drawstring backpacks.

• Mid-Summer “Spike Event”:
  • Renew interest in non-congregate summer meals and increase participation by hosting a special event in late July or early August.
  • Invite local leaders, plan fun activities, and include a music concert, health fair, or other family-friendly events. 

• Use Event Planning Tools:
  • Use Eventbrite to plan and coordinate your events seamlessly.
  • Post event dates as open Facebook events to reach a larger audience.

📰 Media Outreach:

• Customize and submit this template press release to local news outlets to announce the launch of your non-congregate summer meals program.

📝 Sample Letter to Parents/Caregivers:

• Customize this template letter to parents and caregivers to announce your non-congregate summer meals program. This letter notifies parents of the availability of the program, encouraging participation and emphasizing the benefits to families.

🤝 Engage with Local Organizations

• Partner with local organizations such as churches, libraries, parks, and community centers to help promote your non-congregate summer meal program. These groups often have strong community ties and can help spread the word. 
• Share program details and encourage them to include information in their bulletins, newsletters or social media.
• Provide flyers or posters for them to display at their locations, increasing visibility and support.

🏫 School and PTA Engagement

• Schools are valuable partners in promoting summer meal programs. Encourage them to share program details with families through newsletters, email lists, or parent-teacher meetings. By collaborating with schools and PTAs, you can reach a wider audience and increase program participation.
• To assist with outreach, we’ve created a customizable email or letter template that you can share with local schools and PTAs. You can easily adapt the message to include key program details and help spread the word.
• Make sure to provide schools with flyers or posters to display on campus as well, further promoting the program to families!

📹 Short Video Clips for Social Media

Develop short video clips (15–30 seconds) that can be shared on your social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Facebook Stories. These clips can showcase the meal pickup process, highlight the benefits of free meals, or feature testimonials from families or kids who have benefited from the program. Engaging visuals can help capture attention and spread the word about your non-congregate summer meal program! Here’s an example.

Boosting Participation with Engaging Activities

Pairing activities with meals is a strategic approach that significantly boosts program participation and retention rates during the summer. This practice has proven to be instrumental in creating a more dynamic and engaging environment for participants, fostering increased engagement, efficient forecasting, and providing continued learning opportunities.

🎈 Decorate Your Site: Transform your site into a vibrant and inviting space with balloons, posters drawn by the kids – anything to make it festive and welcoming.

🎉 Organize Raffles: Spark excitement among participating children by organizing raffles with kid-friendly prizes. This adds an element of fun and incentive to the program.

🎨 Enhance Mealtime Excitement: Elevate the dining experience by serving special menus featuring kids’ favorites and implementing theme weeks throughout the summer. Consider giving your usual menu items new, creative names to make mealtime more exciting, and add variety and anticipation with themed weeks like “Christmas in July” to make the program more memorable for children.

👦👧 Engage Youth Input: Encourage participation and ownership by involving youth in the planning process. Ask for feedback to understand their preferences better and tailor activities and menus to suit their needs. Utilize surveys and interactive feedback mechanisms to gather insights and ensure the program aligns with their interests.

🌞 Summer Food, Summer Moves: This resource kit by the USDA is designed to get kids excited about healthy eating and physical activity during the summer months. Access downloadable and printable materials or order free printed resources available for participating schools, childcare providers, and summer meals programs.

Sample Social Media Graphics

Sample Social Media Posts:

English

🌞🍽️ Hassle-Free Summer Meals! Save time and stress this summer with our free non-congregate meal program! Families can pick up to [X] days’ worth of meals at a time for kids and teens—no forms, no fuss! Visit us at [LOCATION] during [TIME FRAME].

🍽️🏡 Lunch is on Us! A healthy meal for your kids is just a stop away! Join us at [LOCATION] during [TIME FRAME] to pick up free meals to go. Save time on meal prep and enjoy nutritious food for the week. For more information, call 1-XXX-XXX-XXX or visit: [WEBSITE].

🌞🍉 Join Us for Free Meals! We’re serving delicious non-congregate meals for kids and teens at [LOCATION] from [TIME FRAME]. This week, enjoy tasty options like [EXAMPLE OF MEAL]! For more details, call 1-XXX-XXX-XXX or visit: [WEBSITE].

🌟🍎 Power Up Your Summer! We’re proud to offer free, delicious meals that meet USDA nutrition guidelines for kids and teens. Families can easily pick up meals without hassle at [LOCATION]. For more info, visit: [WEBSITE].

👦🏽👧🏼 Free Meals for Kids and Teens! Our non-congregate meals are available [DAYS AVAILABLE] at [LOCATION]. Swing by with your family between [TIME] and [TIME] for nutritious lunches to go! Learn more by calling 1-XXX-XXX-XXX or visiting: [WEBSITE].

Spanish 

🌞🍽️ ¡Comidas de Verano Sin Complicaciones! Ahorra tiempo y estrés este verano con nuestro programa gratuito de comidas no congregadas. ¡Las familias pueden recoger hasta [X] días de comidas a la vez para niños y adolescentes, sin formularios y sin complicaciones! Visítanos en [LUGAR] durante [HORARIO].

🍽️🏡 ¡La Comida Va por Nuestra Cuenta! ¡Una comida saludable para tus hijos está a solo una parada! Únete a nosotros en [LUGAR] durante [HORARIO] para recoger comidas gratuitas para llevar. Ahorra tiempo en la preparación de comidas y disfruta de alimentos nutritivos para la semana. Para más información, llama al 1-XXX-XXX-XXX o visita: [SITIO WEB].

🌞🍉 ¡Únete a Nosotros para Comidas Gratuitas! Estamos distribuyendo deliciosas comidas no congregadas para niños y adolescentes en [LUGAR] durante [HORARIO]. ¡Esta semana, disfruta opciones sabrosas como [EJEMPLO DE COMIDA]! Para más detalles, llama al 1-XXX-XXX-XXX o visita: [SITIO WEB].  

🌟🍎 Nos enorgullece ofrecer comidas gratuitas y deliciosas que cumplen con las pautas de nutrición del USDA para niños y adolescentes. Las familias pueden recoger comidas fácilmente y sin complicaciones en [LUGAR]. Para más información, visita: [SITIO WEB]. 

👦🏽👧🏼 ¡Comidas Gratuitas para Niños y Adolescentes! Nuestras comidas no congregadas están disponibles [DÍAS DISPONIBLES] en [LUGAR]. ¡Visítanos con tu familia entre [HORARIO] y [HORARIO] para almuerzos nutritivos para llevar! Conoce más llamando al 1-XXX-XXX-XXX o visitando: [SITIO WEB].

Sample Language for Newsletter/Website:

English

This summer, save your family time and money with FREE summer meals for kids at [INSERT LOCATION]! From [INSERT DAYS AVAILABLE] between [INSERT TIME FRAME], there’s no need for applications or registrations—just swing by and pick up nutritious meals to take home. Families can grab up to [X] days’ worth of meals at once, making it easy to keep your kids fed and happy all summer long. We can’t wait to see you there!

Spanish

¡Este verano, ahorre tiempo y dinero a su familia con COMIDAS DE VERANO GRATIS para niños en [INSERTE UBICACIÓN]! Desde [INSERTE DÍAS DISPONIBLES] entre [INSERTE HORARIO], no necesita hacer solicitudes ni inscribirse; simplemente pase por aquí y recoja comidas nutritivas para llevar a casa. Las familias pueden recoger hasta [X] días de comidas a la vez, facilitando que sus hijos se mantengan alimentados y felices durante todo el verano. ¡Estamos ansiosos por verte!

Collecting Feedback through Surveys

Using a survey is an essential tool for gathering valuable feedback from participants and families in your Summer Meal Program. Surveys provide insights into the needs and preferences of the community, helping you identify areas for improvement and adjust your program to better serve families. By regularly collecting feedback, you can:

• Enhance Participation: Understanding preferred meal distribution times, locations, and food items can help tailor the program to fit families’ schedules and tastes, increasing participation.
• Improve Services: Direct feedback allows you to address any concerns about meal quality, portion sizes, or convenience, ensuring the program remains accessible and effective.
• Strengthen Community Relationships: When families see their feedback is considered, it fosters a stronger connection with the program, making them more likely to participate and spread the word to others.

We’ve created an easy-to-use survey template that you’re welcome to customize to fit your program’s needs. This template can be turned into an online version using platforms like Google Forms for easy distribution and collection of responses. By using this flexible tool, you can ensure that you’re meeting the needs of your community and making informed improvements.

Additional Resources

• For New Sponsors
  • Summer Meals Fact Sheet – This resource is an overview of the need for summer meals, basic facts about the program, and ways both individuals and organizations can get involved.
  • Summer Food Service Overview – This resource provides key facts about the Summer Food Service Program for school districts and community sponsors considering program sponsorship or other direct involvement in the delivery of the program.
  • 2025 Summer Impact Report – Learn how new summer nutrition programs are transforming access to food for millions of children, especially in rural and low-income communities, by providing flexible meal options, grocery benefits, and expanded support for families facing summer hunger.

  Mapping & Area Eligibility: 

  • Navigating Area Eligibility In Summer And Afterschool Meals – Determining if your site is area eligible can be complicated. This resource provides information on how to determine if a site is area eligible, the types of data that can be used to make that determination, and options for meal service if a site is not area eligible.
  • No Kid Hungry Summer Meals Eligibility Map – This map will show you if your summer meal site or day care home is located in an area eligible location based on the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s averaging policy.
  • Rural Summer Meal Coverage Tool – This map shows whether your area meets USDA’s rural criteria to qualify for non-congregate summer meals, while highlighting high need areas and summer meal eligibility.
  • USDA | Capacity Builder Map– This map has additional layers of information (e.g., community sites, Census data) beyond eligibility that may be useful in identifying where sites could/should go and potential partners working in the space.
  • USDA | Summer Meals for Kids Site Finder – USDA’s Summer Meals for Kids Site Finder helps families locate free summer meal sites, including Eat On-Site and Meals To-Go options, for children 18 and under across the country.

  Staffing

  • Tips For Staffing Summer Meals Programs – No Kid Hungry gathered advice from summer nutrition heroes who have found innovative ways to ensure that their programs stay afloat in the summertime with passionate and dedicated staff.
  • The Summer Meals Student Workforce Toolkit – This toolkit serves as a comprehensive guide for recruiting, training, and managing student workers in summer meals programs.
  • Benefits of Hiring Student Workers in Summer Non-Congregate Programs – Learn how No Kid Hungry summer meal sponsors and grantees used high school and college student workers to expand capacity, improve outreach, reduce stigma, and strengthen their 2024 non-congregate summer meal programs.
  • Staffing Up: Strategies for Working Through Labor Shortage Challenges – Learn how school districts nationwide are using innovative strategies to overcome labor and supply shortages and successfully staff their operations during challenging times.

  Menus

  • Multi-Day Menu Planning: Considerations for Rural Non-Congregate Summer Service – Learn how rural sponsors can use the flexible non-congregate summer meal option to provide multi-day meal service to children, with practical guidance on planning, storage, packaging, and meal components.
  • How to Offer Bulk Meals During the Summer Months – Learn how bulk meal service, offering minimally prepared ingredients, provides families with greater convenience and choice in summer programs.
  • FRAC | A How-To Guide for Summer Food Sponsors on Purchasing High-Quality Summer Meals – Developed by the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), this guide helps summer food sponsors improve meal quality by strengthening contract language, enhancing vendor communication, increasing bid competition, and offering tips for advocates supporting this work.

  Implementation

  • Successful Non-Congregate Meal Service Models for Rural Areas: Implementation Guide – This resource outlines effective non-congregate meal service models. Use this guide to find strategies and tactics to execute a successful non-congregate summer meals program in your rural community.
  • Proactive Planning for Summer Meals Sponsors – Learn how a year-round planning approach, supported by a detailed month-by-month guide, can help sponsors strengthen, sustain, and expand their summer meals programs.
  • Sponsor Guide: Supporting Summer Meal Access For Immigrant Communities – Learn how to better support and reassure immigrant families so they feel safe participating in non-congregate summer meals programs.
  • Summer Meals Outreach Toolkit – This toolkit provides ready-to-use, customizable materials in English and Spanish to help sponsors promote summer meals for children and teens, including social media posts, flyers, and posters for non-congregate programs.
  • Managing Costs In School Nutrition Programs – This resource features tips for cutting costs and generating revenue, without sacrificing program quality. Learn tips and strategies for cutting food and labor costs along with tips for increasing your program’s revenue generation.
  • Gathering Feedback from Families: Using a Survey to Inform Meal Service – Asking families for their feedback about meal service can help you make informed decisions for your program and ultimately increase participation. This resource details the use of a survey to gather feedback from families. Within this resource you will find general guidance and a link to a sample survey so that you can see those recommendations in action.