The South Dakota Department of Education’s office of Child and Adult Nutrition Services is holding a training session for summer food service program sponsors. Registration deadline is Feb. 22.
Program specialist Julie McCord says the federally-funded program provides nutritious meals and snacks to children in low-income areas during the summer months. She says community organizations, nonprofits, schools and tribal and local governments can apply to be sponsors if they operate in low-income areas,
serve a group of mostly low-income children or operate a summer camp with a high proportion of low-income participants.
McCord says when school is in session, over 61-thousand (61,428) South Dakota students receive free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program. Children age 18 and younger may receive a meal free of charge at a participating site. In 2018, South Dakota Summer Food Service Program sponsors served 516,186 meals.
To determine eligibility in your area, see http://www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/mapping-tools-summer-meal-programs.
Organizations interested in reviewing sponsor responsibilities are invited to watch the Summer Food Service Program Overview on the South Dakota Department of Education’s Summer Food Service Program webpage. To learn more about serving as a sponsor or site, call Child and Adult Nutrition Services at 605-773-3413.
For more information and to register for training, go to http://doe.sd.gov/cans/sfsp.aspx. The deadline to register for training is Friday, Feb. 22.
