Over 500 churches, camps, schools, recreation centers, and Playstreets in Philadelphia distributed more than 1 million meals to children this summer. The Summer Food Service Program handed out free breakfast and lunch to kids under 18 at locations throughout the city.
More than 100,000 youth in the city lack reliable access to food, said Laura Crandall, Philadelphia’s director of Food Security Initiatives, as per the Philadelphia Inquirer. Close to 87,000 children under 18 live below the poverty line, based on the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Recent cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act have raised concerns about child hunger. An estimated 45,000 SNAP recipients in Philadelphia could see benefits slashed this year, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.
“Prior to the pandemic, we were already seeing that the options for families during the summer was decreasing,” said Erinn Hill, director of Child Nutrition Programs for Catholic Charities of Philadelphia’s Nutritional Development Services, which sponsored 192 meal sites in the city this summer. “Camps and other programs were getting smaller, shorter, or closing. As of now, the number of sites is still not back to pre-pandemic levels.”
The CBS Food Program delivered food to 41 partner locations in Philadelphia, close to double the number of sites they worked with last summer. Holy Innocents School in Juniata Park fed about 70 children ages 4 to 14 at its free all-day summer camp.
At least two site operators said seniors in their communities are coming to summer meal sites for food. In areas where children don’t want the meals, operators sometimes let seniors take the leftovers.
“We just can’t let our neighbors go hungry,” said one site operator.