Many families rely on meals provided at school to help ensure their children are able to access enough nutritious food to learn and grow. But what happens when the school day ends?
To help ensure kids are getting enough to eat, the Capital Area Food Bank participates in the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program. This program allows us to provide healthy, kid-friendly meals to 48 locations throughout the region that host afterschool programs.
Those sites include Pleasant Homes in Seat Pleasant, Md., where students help to prep the plates and pass them out to their classmates.
The children at Pleasant Homes say strawberries and pineapples are among their favorite foods. Along with cantaloupe, tomatoes and leafy green salad, a recent afternoon meal offered kids a rainbow of foods.
“The plates are really colorful, which the kids enjoy,” says Denico Settle, the site’s director. “We’re very grateful for the partnership with the Capital Area Food Bank.”
We’re thankful to be working with partners like Denico to ensure kids across the region have the food they need to learn, play and thrive.
Interested in joining our list of afterschool meals sites? Learn more about how to apply on Afterschool Meals page.