Summer Food Service Program

How Libraries Can Help

Every summer when school ends, millions of children and teens are at risk of going hungry without access to the free or reduced-price meals they receive in school.  The USDA’s Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) provides free healthy meals to children and teens in communities with high rates of poverty.  Many Ohio libraries already participate as SFSP sites, or provide programming to other SFSP sites in their communities.

However, the SFSP is among the most underutilized government programs.  As few as 1 in 10 eligible Ohio students receive food through the SFSP.  An alarming number of kids may have inadequate access to food during the summer. When school is out, these kids also lack the other supports school offers, including engagement, learning, adult presence, and a safe and temperature-controlled environment – things libraries can provide.

Your library can be part of the solution to childhood hunger in Ohio.  Become an SFSP site, become an SFSP sponsor, partner with existing sites, publicize the program and/or connect your young patrons to the program.

Please note that during the public health emergency, the USDA has temporarily suspended certain SFSP rules through a series of waivers intended to facilitate food distribution within public safety guidelines. These waivers allow for non-congregate feeding (meals may be picked up “grab & go” style), flexibility in meal times, parent/guardian pick-up of meals, and – importantly – flexibility in area eligibility. These waivers are currently in place through September 30, 2021. 

Become an SFSP Site

Under ordinary conditions (when the pandemic waivers are not in place), open SFSP sites are locations serving low-income areas where at least half of the children come from families with incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty level, making them eligible for free and reduced-price school meals. Under the waivers, more libraries and more communities are eligible. Contact the Ohio Department of Education’s Office for Integrated Student Supports for details.

Meals are served free to any child up to 18 years old at open SFSP sites.  A site may serve 1 or 2 meals, a meal and a snack, or just a snack daily. Library meeting rooms and outdoor areas on library grounds are great program sites.  Libraries can incorporate their Summer Library Program and other fun, literacy-based activities.  Sites incur no monetary cost unless they choose to invest in materials for enrichment programming, books to give away to attending children, etc.

• Find out if your area is eligible for SFSP by using the USDA capacity builder map.
• After the map loads, search for or zoom to your community.
• Under  “Layers,” click on “FY21 FNS CACFP SFSP Eligibility” to see if all or part of the area you serve is eligible.  You may also click on “Summer Meal Sites 2020” to see program sites in your community, and on “Libraries” to pinpoint your location and that of neighboring libraries.
• If you serve an eligible area, identify and contact a local sponsor about becoming a site. If you do not know what organization sponsors SFSP in your area, contact an existing SFSP site in your area to ask what organization sponsors their participation.
• For further information, or if there is no sponsor in your area, contact one of the SFSP specialists listed under ‘Contact Information’ on the Ohio Department of Education’s Office for Integrated Student Supports website. You might also contact your school district administrative offices to discuss the possibility of their becoming an SFSP sponsor and using your library as a site, or contact the food bank that serves your area.
• You may also contact Children’s Hunger Alliance (CHA), a statewide organization which is able to sponsor eligible SFSP sites in all 88 counties. CHA has started a new model that is easier to implement and manage, using kid-friendly shelf-stable food. Contact Jared Buerger, Director of Afterschool Nutrition to learn more about CHA sponsorship: jbuerger@childrenshungeralliance.org or 1-800-227-6446 ext. 313. CHA can also sponsor eligible sites to provide afterschool meals across the State of Ohio through the USDA’s Child and Adult Food Care Program.
• If you’d like to explore library-specific possibilities for SFSP, contact Library Consultant Janet Ingraham Dwyer at jdwyer@library.ohio.gov.

Become an SFSP Sponsor

Sponsors handle the financial, administrative and food service responsibilities to run the SFSP in an area.  Sponsors may contract with food service providers and do not have to prepare the food themselves.  Sponsors are reimbursed for all expenses by the USDA.

• Search for existing sponsors in your area using the Ohio Department of Education’s SFSP map. The listing for each SFSP site includes a record of its sponsor
• If there is no sponsor in your area, consider becoming a sponsor. Complete the Potential Sponsor Survey to get started. The Ohio Department of Education Office for Integrated Student Supports will contact you with further information.
• The USDA offers a succinct overview of how to become a sponsor.
• For more information on becoming a sponsor, contact one of the SFSP specialists listed under ‘Contact Information’ on the Ohio Department of Education’s Office for Integrated Student Supports website.

Partner with Sites

Library partners provide outreach programming, bookmobile or lobby stop-style service, book giveaways, or other support to existing sites in your community.

Use the SFSP Site Map from the Ohio Department of Education to search for existing sites and sponsors.  Contact a local site or sponsor to offer to partner.

• Explore the Collaborative Summer Library Program’s Libraries and Summer Food how-to guide for outreach ideas.
• If no sites exist in your community, consider becoming a site yourself! See above for details.

Publicize Your Local SFSP Site

Communications

• See the USDA Summer Food Service Program site for a wealth of resources to help communities publicize the availability of summer food programs.
• Download outreach materials from Share Our Strength (flyers, posters, yard signs, et cetera).  Many are customizable.
• Download an Ending Child Hunger library flyer  (note: unlike the other items in this list, this flyer is targeted to library staff, not the general public).

Refer Patrons

Refer young patrons to local SFSP sites. Tools for finding sites include:

• A clickable statewide map of Ohio sponsors and sites
• The USDA National Hunger Hotline: 1-866-3-HUNGRY
• A text-based location service: text FOOD to 877-877
• The WhyHunger website
• The Range mobile app

Additional Resources

• Libraries and Summer Food – a succinct, thorough how-to guide from the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) to help libraries connect kids and teens with healthy food when school is out.
• CSLP’s Summer Meals factsheet (PDF) and infographic (PNG image file).
• USDA Summer Food Service Program website
• USDA Summer Meals Toolkit
• Ohio Department of Education: Summer Food Service Program
  The ODE is the program administrator of the SFSP in Ohio.
• Team Vittles  – group of librarians dedicated to promoting the Summer Food Service Program and other food security programs across Ohio.  Began as a team project through ILEAD USA Ohio in 2017.
• “Free Lunch at the Library”  by Catherine Saint Louis, a New York Times feature article (7/30/17) featuring Marysville Public Library and the Elmwood Place Branch, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
• Lunch at the Library – this California-based site features a toolkit for libraries, and access to a listserv to ask questions of other librarians and share ideas about summer meal programs.
• Beyond Food for Fines: Libraries, Food Banks and Feeding America – webinar recording and a helpful collection of resources and links compiled by WebJunction.  Registration is required to view the recording. Registration is free, and gives you access to WebJunction courses and webinar archives.  Registration is not required to view the webinar slides,  transcript, or related resources and links.
• Providing Meals for Adults – a compilation of ideas from Lunch at the Library, for libraries wishing to to provide food for adult parents and caregivers, who are not eligible to receive meals through SFSP.
• Summer Nutrition Programs – The Food Research and Action Center, a national nonprofit organization working to eradicate hunger and undernutrition in the United States, offers an array of how-to resources, data, and news about SFSP.

Feeding Ohio’s Children

The Ohio Association of Foodbanks operates several additional programs, such as Mobile Farmers Markets and the Summer Weekend Meals Program, that provide healthy food for children in Ohio.  Learn more about these food programs.

For more information or assistance with any aspect of library participation in SFSP, please contact Janet Ingraham Dwyer, Library Consultant, at 614-644-6910 or jdwyer@library.ohio.gov.  Thank you for your library’s involvement in supporting the well-being of the children of your community, and helping to end child hunger and food insecurity in Ohio.

The USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.