Campaign offers Georgia kids free lunch during the summer

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A program to feed hungry kids across Georgia kicked off just as students begin their summer break.

Dozens of kids showed up on this first day of the Summer Hunger Campaign for a free meal at the Oak Tree Villa Apartments in DeKalb County. %

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Just like across the state, one in four kids in DeKalb County are food insecure, meaning they don't always know where their next meal is coming from.

With this program, they know they'll get at least one good meal each day.

“It helps my mom a lot when we don't have the food to eat so it's good,” said 13-year-old Coriyane Wallace.

The state estimates 63 percent of Georgia students get free and reduced meals during school, and 85 percent of them go without during the summer.

Organizers, including the Georgia Food Bank, say the need just keeps growing.

“We keep increasing the number of children and the number of meals that we serve,” said Barbara Muse, the executive director of Bold Ministries.

The meals are filling, but also healthy – meeting all USDA standards for nutrition.

“We have hamburgers. We have chips. We have carrots and we have fruit cups,” Muse said.

Grants pay for the Summer Hunger Campaign, which will dish out free meals for anyone under 18 at thousands of sites across the state until the beginning of school.

All kids have to do is show up and chow down.

For a list of places where you can go to get free summer lunches for kids, click here.

Cox Media Group