Posted on June 13, 2017
New Jersey communities could collect an additional $6.6 million in federal dollars if they fed summer lunches to more children, according to a national report released today.
While Food Research & Action Center’s Hunger Doesn’t Take A Summer Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report ranked New Jersey high for its breakfast service – coming in 3rd nationally – the federal summer meals programs in 2016 reached just 19 percent of children who receive subsidized school lunch, putting New Jersey in 12th place nationally.
The report, also found that New Jersey increased the number of children receiving summer breakfast by 5 percent and summer lunch by 2 percent from 2015 to 2016. New Jersey communities posted the largest increase in August 2016, serving more than 316,500 breakfasts – an 18 percent increase over 2015.
