GLADES COUNTY – For kids who rely on school meals as a consistent source of nutrition, summer can be a challenging time. For many families, the summer months place additional economic and financial strain on households, but for those in rural communities, summer hits even harder. In rural areas, families often face barriers such as transportation making access to summer meal programs difficult.

This year, however, positive changes are coming for many communities looking to overcome these barriers with innovative solutions. For Glades County School District, this includes a mobile distribution route delivering meals directly to kids who need them.

“Despite the challenges rural communities face, we also see extreme resilience,” said Sky Beard, director of No Kid Hungry Florida. “They understand the barriers their community faces when it comes to accessing traditional meal sites and are now able to implement new tools to overcome those barriers.”

To support this innovation statewide, No Kid Hungry has granted over $280,000 to three school districts and three community partners throughout Florida’s rural areas. For Glades County School District and many others, this marks the first summer of implementing non-congregate meal programs. The grants will help cover the costs of meal delivery, refrigeration, and transportation, essential to implement these programs.

“Our summer meal programs are great, however, they were never designed to reach every kid that may need them. Therefore, we often see a gap between those who need summer meals and those who can access them,” said Sky. “In Florida, only 10% of those who utilize free and reduced meals during the school year access summer meal sites. In rural communities, these barriers have historically caused an even deeper gap. The innovations happening this summer bring us one step closer to reaching more kids who need these programs.”