In Tennessee, summer meals are now more accessible, flexible, and responsive to the needs of families. Thanks to strong community partnerships and innovative strategies, families have more options to access the food they need during the summer months.
When schools close for the summer, thousands of children can lose access to the nutritious meals they depend on during the school year. Summer meal programs help bridge this gap by providing families with additional resources to keep children fed when school is out.
Across the states, Summer EBT has added a critical layer of support to summer nutrition efforts. Launched nationwide in 2024, the program served approximately 21.3 million children across 37 states, the District of Columbia, all five U.S. territories, and two Indian Tribal Organizations. This year, participation has expanded to 37 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, all five U.S. territories, and five Indian Tribal Organizations. The program can complement free summer meals in communities or be a support for families that live in areas that don’t have access to free summer meals.
While Tennessee participated in the program in 2024, investing $5.8 million in administrative costs to draw down over $77 million in benefits for children facing food insecurity, the state has opted not to participate in the federally funded Summer EBT program for 2025.
Instead, Tennessee has introduced its own smaller scale Summer Nutrition Initiative, providing a one-time $120 payment to eligible children in 15 counties with limited access to summer meal sites. Payments were distributed automatically beginning June 13, 2025, via existing EBT cards to children aged 5–18 who are part of active SNAP or Families First cases. More information is available on the Tennessee Department of Human Services website.
Even though the full Summer EBT program is not operating in Tennessee this year, non-congregate summer meal programs continue to expand across the state. Being offered by local sponsors across the state, this program is helping families overcome barriers such as lack of transportation or long distances to meal sites. Many sponsors have experienced higher demand leading to an expansion of rural non-congregate meal service.
For example, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee surpassed its June goals by distributing over 80,000 meals, so many that they ran out of boxes. To accommodate a higher demand, they added four meal sites in July to keep meals flowing to families in need.
TNKids Nutrition, which serves seven counties, experienced unexpected demand in Hickman County, where they initially planned to provide 500–600 meals but ended up distributing 5,000.
The team began assembling boxes in February and ran out in mid-July. To scale up operations, they expanded their staff to 50, adding 10 temporary summer hires, including eight high school students. Each delivery vehicle includes a team of three, with at least one Spanish-speaking team member to ensure accessibility for Spanish-speaking families.
No Kid Hungry Tennessee has had the honor of visiting several summer meal sites across the state. Our team was grateful for the opportunity to see meal service in action at site locations including Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee, Sullivan County Schools, Bristol City Schools, and many others. We appreciate all of the sponsors who welcomed us and allowed us to see the impactful work being done to ensure kids have access to meals all summer.
No Kid Hungry Tennessee is committed to building on this momentum. We’re partnering with schools, local community-based organizations, and state agencies to provide support, expand program reach, and ensure every child in Tennessee has access to the nutrition they need this summer.
