ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — As summer begins, the meals many students receive through school are no longer an option, creating a financial struggle for families who now have to add those meals to their grocery budgets.

In response, the Second Harvest Food Bank in Orange County partnered with Meals on Wheels to expand its free Summer Food Service program. 

Through the program, anyone up to 18 years old in Orange County is eligible to receive a free snack and lunch at any of the 46 participating locations. 

Ellie Dinh, director of programs and services at Second Harvest Food Bank, says the program is a lifeline for many parents. 

“We know that during the school year about half of children in Orange County rely on free or reduced-price meals while they’re at school. And so then during the summer, when that food isn’t available to them, it’s what we call the nutrition gap during the summer. So we’re trying to help fill that gap and increase the number of sites that we have so that food is available to more children throughout Orange County,” said Dinh. 

The program is year-round, but not only does the need increase during the summer, but they have also seen more people need their services in recent years. 

“In Orange County, the number of children that are food insecure that maybe don’t have reliable access to nutritious food used to be one in 11. And then recently, new data came out that it’s actually one in eight. And, you know, I think everyone can really feel it. Food is more expensive. It’s just really expensive to live right now. And so families are feeling that crunch,” said Dinh. 

The latest available data show that 12% of U.S. households, or 44 million people, were food insecure in 2022.

Last month, the USDA forecast that food prices are expected to increase by 2.2%. 

That is why Dinh says the program provides two meals a day for 2,000 kids and is helping an entire community. 

Among those kids are the ones Perla Escamilla, manager at the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Ana, helps deliver meals to.

“The kids really love it because they get a fruit, they get a grain, they get a dairy,” said Escamilla.

The club's summer program is one of the participating sites, but the free meals are for anyone under 18, regardless of whether they are enrolled in the club. 

“I love that parents are able to walk by our community and see that their child’s able to get a free meal and they can come in and grab it,” said Escamilla. 

The impact goes beyond helping parents financially or meeting the nutrition standards kids need. A 2022 study published in the National Library of Medicine showed food insecurity among children correlated with higher stress and anxiety. 

This is why the organizations work together to ensure kids are not left without a meal.

Call 211 to find the nearest location and distribution times near you.