How all of us can help make this a hunger-free summer for families in Nashville | Opinion
Summertime. Family vacations to the beach, picnics and grilling, playing outside, long days at a pool or lake, soaking up the warmth and sun. But for so many children right here in our community, summer means something else: hunger.
The reason why? When the school doors close for the summer months, so do their cafeterias that provide free or reduced cost breakfast and lunch meals for students. Along with a lack of access to healthy food, these kids are often isolated at homes due to the high cost and lack of availability of childcare which puts even more stress on the families working to make ends meet. For them, the costs of summer are astronomical.
Over the last 10 years, all of us at Dream Streets have worked tirelessly with our invaluable partners at Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee on the Hunger Free Summer campaign to bring healthy meals and snacks to these children who simply have nowhere else to turn.
Through our fresh mobile food pantry that runs seven days a week, and our Summer Days program that delivers hot and nutritious lunches to children provided by Second Harvest, we’re going directly into underserved communities in Nashville to see that our children are fed during the day.
We provide a safe space, adult supervision, and an opportunity for them to not only eat, but participate in fun activities and playtime with their neighborhood friends. And when that time is over, we send them home with snack bags containing fruit, Nutri-grain bars and other healthy items.
Here's how to help our efforts to feed hungry families
Right here in Middle Tennessee, 314,200 people are facing food insecurity – meaning they don’t know where their next meal will come from – and that includes these precious children.
For every dollar raised, Second Harvest can help us provide four nutritious meals. In total last year, the campaign provided over 4 million meals. And working with other partners like our friends at Preston Taylor Ministries, we can go directly into these communities, identify and feed those most at risk and help alleviate the pressure and economic stress our disadvantaged neighbors face daily.
We turn hunger pangs into smiles. Tears of loneliness and isolation into laughter. Despair into hope.
But we can’t do it alone. It takes all of us; whether that’s a monetary donation, volunteer time or giving food. Nashville and its people are known for their generosity, and I encourage you to get involved.
Summer is a time when we all make great memories. Let’s make sure these children’s memories of this summer aren’t ones of hunger.
To get involved and help, please visit www.dreamstreetstn.com and secondharvestmidtn.org.
TJ Fletcher is executive director of Dream Streets, a Nashville-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that works to protect and empower individuals living in distress in our community.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How all of us can help make this a hunger-free summer for families
