Wednesday, June 27th saw the launch of the FREE Summer Meals for Kids program. This federally-funded program, founded over thirty years ago and sponsored by the New York City Department of Education is a targeted response to increased child hunger during the summer months.
One in four New York children live in “food insecure” households—they often do not know when they will receive their next meal and where it will come from. These children benefit enormously from free and reduced-price school lunches, as these lunches are, for many, the only reliable, filling and well-rounded meal of an average day. As a result, food security increases for these children during the non-school, summer months, when they cannot rely on healthy, school breakfasts and lunches. The financial strain on parents adds up to about $300 in additional food spending for the average low-income family.
The Summer Meals Program is an attempt to ensure that all food-insecure New York City children have access to at least two filling and nutritional meals a day throughout the summer. Every summer hundreds of community-oriented locations all over the city serve as Summer Meals sites such as schools, parks, libraries, pools. Sites serve lunch or both breakfast and lunch, and are open most weekdays through July and August.
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There are, thus far, fifteen of these sites zoned in and around the Bed Stuy area:
1. Brower Park
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o Park Place and Kinston Avenue Brooklyn NY
o 7/3-8/31 Mon-Fri
o No breakfast
o Lunch 10:00-11:00
2. P.S. 178 Saint Clair Mckelway
o 2163 Dean St. Brooklyn NY 11233
o 7/8 – 8/23 Mon-Fri
o Breakfast from 8:00 – 9:15
o Lunch from 11:00-1:15
3. P.S. 040 George W Carver
o 265 Ralph Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11233
o 7/1-8/23 Mon-Fri
o Breakfast from 8:00 – 9:15
o Lunch from 11:00 – 1:15
4. Union Baptist Church Community
o 461 Decatur St. Brooklyn NY 11233
o 7/10-8/28 Wednesdays only
o No breakfast
o Lunch 12:00 – 1:15
5. Saratoga Park
o Halsey St. and Saratoga Avenue Brooklyn NY 11233
o 7/3-8/31 Mon-Fri
o No breakfast
o Lunch 11:00-1:15
6. P.S. 262 El Hajj Malik El Shabazz Elementary School
o 500 Macon St. Brooklyn NY 11233
o 7/1-8/23 Mon-Fri
o Breakfast from 8:00 – 9:!5
o Lunch from 11:00 – 1:15
7. Brooklyn Public Library – Bedford
o 496 Franklin Avenue Brooklyn NY 11238
o 6/27-8/30 Tues – Fri
o No breakfast
o Lunch 1:15 – 2:00
8. P.S. 003 The Bedford Village
o 50 Jefferson Avenue Brooklyn NY 11216
o 7/8-8/23 Mon-Fri
o Breakfast 8:00 – 9:15
o Lunch 11:00 – 1:15
9. Kosciusko Pool
o 670 Marcy Avenue Brooklyn NY 11216
o 6/27-8/30 Mon-Sun
o Breakfast 8:30 – 9:30
o Lunch 11:30 – 3:00
10. Midale College High School
o 185 Ellery St. Brooklyn NY 11206
o 6/27-8/30 Mon-Fri
o Breakfast 7:30 – 9:15
o Lunch 11:00 – 1:15
11. Brooklyn Public Library – Dekalb
o 790 Bushwick Avenue Brooklyn NY 11221
o 6/27-8/30 Mon-Fri
o No breakfast
o Lunch 1:15 – 2:00
The last four sites are all open Monday through Friday from 6/27 to 8/30 for Breakfast from 8:00-9:15 and lunch from 11:00-1:15
12. P.S. 138. 760 Prospect Place, Brooklyn NY 11216
13. The School of Integrated Learning. 1224 Park Place Brooklyn NY 11213
14. M.S. K394. 188 Rochester Avenue Brooklyn NY 11213
15. J.H.S. 057 Whitelaw Reid. 125 Stuyvesant Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11221
A more expansive illustration of Summer Meals sites can be found using Summer Meals map hosted by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, linked below. The map pinpoints the fifteen sites listed above, those in areas neighboring Bed-Stuy, and the rest of the Summer Meals sites scattered throughout the city.
