Did you know that over 185,000 children in Kansas qualify for free or reduced-priced school lunches? Sadly, only 7% of these kids have access to summer lunch programs. 

This puts the state of Kansas in last place - 50 out of 50 states - for providing summer food programs to low income youth. This is a major crisis within our great state. After hearing from families we serve about this food insecurity issue, we knew we needed to step up and help out!

The Kids Summer Food Program is a freshly launched initiative that addresses food insecurity head on for Kansas kids wondering where they'll get their next meal. The Kids Summer Food Program is providing kids meals where school lunches are not available. This newly established program is in collaboration with Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, Harvesters, USDA and The Kansas Department of Education.

Catholic Charities is operating 11 sites in six different counties in Northeast Kansas. Eleven Catholic parishes along with several other churches and community organizations are supporting this new effort.

Just under 1,000 meals were served the first two weeks of June. All children under the age of 18 are welcome to participate in the meals. Interested in volunteering or learning more about the Kids Summer Food Program? Please call Phil Major, Community Outreach Coordinator, at 913.433.2083.