Summer is a time for doors closing (or slamming, if you have teenagers in the house) as we end one chapter, while windows are thrust open to let in fresh ideas and inspirations. There is a palpable sense of freedom and wistfulness about the luxury of laziness. I watch my sons mosey downstairs, bed-headed and scruffy, to open the fridge and stare sleepily into it, awaiting a meal to magically pop out. They rifle through the pantry and fruit basket and crinkle bags to grab a snack or prepare a meal. We have an abundance of riches at every turn and we want for nothing. Summer is a time to reset and relax. There are no schedules, no alarms, no stress. It is bliss.

It is not so for many children.

 

Every summer I think about the kids who face stress every day and hunger for more than a meal. There are children who don’t enjoy the trappings of summer that the world paints. Kids who experience toxic stress often see school as their safe place, so the weary, hot days of summer are not brimming with joy. And here we are expecting teachers to extract the same results from kids who don’t even come from the same field, much less a level one. But I digress…

For those children who get most of their meals at school, summer is a tough, painful reminder of all that’s missing. It’s a position that children should not face in a country that is abundant in riches of all kinds. While we can disagree politically on all sorts of issues, feeding children should be the great bi-partisan binder. We can agree that our society prospers when kids are fed. Communities flourish when people come together to grow food. Neighbors and families bloom when they break bread together. Food is the great equalizer.

There is a veritable patchwork of resources in communities across our nation that cobble together summer meal programs. No Kid Hungry runs a program where you can text to find free meals in your community.

Simply text ‘FOOD’ to 877-877 to find free summer meals sites.

 

Children with full bellies sprout healthy brains. And those brains go on to thrive so those kids can serve their families, communities, and ultimately, break the cycle that encumbers too many in this country.