Summer Food Service Program

The Summer Food Service Program helps alleviate the nutritional gap and makes meals accessible to all children less than 18 years of age.

Another set of player includes farm-bloc legislators and Department of Agriculture officials who created the institutional infrastructure for a national school lunch program.

These groups, together with political leaders responding to the demands and interests of their constituents as well as to the popular appeal of children’s health, shaped national food and nutrition policies.

Additionally, Russell was deeply committed to matters of national defense, as he served as chair of the Armed Services Committee for sixteen years.

School lunch politics were not created solely to ensure that America's children receive healthy and nutritious meals.

School lunch, like other aspects of public policy, has been shaped by the larger forces of politics and power in American history.

[3] "In fact, the National School Lunch Program created in 1946 bore only slight resemblance to the goals of nutrition scientists and home economists.

Unwilling to appear unsympathetic to children's health, particularly as the nation was mobilizing for war, congress quickly voted to continue appropriations for school lunches.

According to the School Nutrition Association: The legislation came in response to claims that many American men had been rejected from World War II military service because of diet-related health problems.

The original requirements of the SFSP included residential summer camps and sites serving areas of poor economic conditions, where at least one-third of the children who qualify for free and reduced price meals, were eligible to participate.

All meals were reimbursed at a single rate, and start up and advance payments were made to help sponsors defray the costs of planning and organizing.

In 1981, “poor economic conditions” was expanded to fifty-percent of the children who qualify for free and reduced price meals, were eligible to participate.

As a result, under the Child Nutrition and WIC re-authorization Act of 2004, the USDA and Congress ramped up their efforts to increase participation in the SFSP.

The simplified the application process for families and schools and also included transportation grants to help sponsors access children in rural areas.

Open sites operate in low-income areas where at least half of the children come from families with incomes at or below 185 percent of the Federal poverty level, making them eligible for free and reduced-price school meals.