Summer vacation is no fun when you are hungry! Fortunately, we have enjoyed broad success this summer in closing the hunger gap for children. We were able to combine community donations with a Hunger Is grant from the Albertson’s Foundation to secure our Summer Breakfast Bags.
Each of these bags are packed with 3 weeks’ worth of non-perishable nutritious breakfast foods at a time of year when school meals are not available.
Not one breakfast bag would make it out our door without the help of our precious volunteers!
Over 2,400 children will receive this bounty from May through August at the following sites:
North County
- Shandon Joint Unified School District
- Oak Park Housing Authority
- Champions at Santa Rosa Academy Preschool
- Georgia Brown Elementary School
- First 5 Paso
- ECHO Homeless Shelter
- North County Boys and Girls Club
- Atascadero Boys and Girls Club
- First 5 San Miguel
- Paso Robles Joint Unified School District
- Centennial Park YMCA
- Schoolhouse Lane Cambria
- Cambria YMC
- Cambria Connection
South County
- Oceano Family Readiness
- Housing Authority SLO
- South County Boys and Girls Club
- Hawthorne YMCA
- Baywood YMCA
- South County YMCA – Judkins
- Morro Bay Library
- SLO Library
Distribution of Breakfast Bags are often combined with Children’s Farmers Markets, where children “buy” fresh fruits and vegetables with play money, called Food Bank Bucks. Children take home 12-15 lbs of fresh produce along with their Breakfast Bag.
Sample bag: cereal bag, milk, quick oats, granola bars, cereal bars, apple sauce, peanut butter, fruit cups.
The Summer Breakfast Bags are a striking reminder of the ongoing commitment made by the people of SLO County to provide reliable access to healthy food at every season of the year.
– By Andrea Keisler, Director of Programs