Meal Program Expects Increase

Free Summer Service Could Feed 30,000 D.C. Children

Mayor Adrian Fenty attended the kickoff of the Come to the Table program yesterday at the Fort Stanton Recreation Center. Officials hope the program will feed more than 30,000 children this summer. (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)

City officials said yesterday that they hope to provide more than 30,000 children with free meals during the summer, a 10 percent increase from last year.

The meals will be served through the Come to the Table program, run by the District's State Superintendent of Education Office in cooperation with the U.S. Agriculture Department, D.C. Hunger Solutions and the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

"This is our responsibility," said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) at the program's kickoff ceremony at the Fort Stanton Recreation Center. "To make sure that children have access to nutritious food, that's what the government should be doing."

During the school year, D.C. children receive healthful food through the meals they receive in schools.

"Hunger does not take a summer vacation," said John A. Stokes, a spokesman for the State Superintendent of Education Office.

According to Stokes, last year more than 1.5 million meals were served to 28,000 children and students younger than 18. This year, the city budgeted $3.8 million for the program so it could increase the number of children served.

The program operates nationwide, but officials said the District ranked the highest in participation over the past three years.

Under the program, children are served two meals a day throughout the summer. Meals include fruit, sandwiches, milk and juices. There are 370 locations in the District designated to serve the meals, including parks and recreation facilities, public schools and churches.

Yesterday, more than 70 children attended the kickoff and were told that nutritious eating is as much about nurturing healthy minds as filling stomachs.

"You know what gives you energy?" Deborah A. Gist, the state superintendent of education, asked the children. "Food."

"Mmm," they replied.

"Healthy children learn," Gist said.

Last year, the Partnership to End Childhood Hunger in the Nation's Capital estimated that 35,000 children in the city live "on the edge of hunger."

The summer meals program is particularly helpful for parents working full time and those with financial problems. The eligibility rules are straightforward: Children must be old enough to eat table food and younger than 18.

Tekee Clark, 33, attends school studying computer science, and his wife works full time as a lottery agent, so they are short of time to ensure that their four children are eating properly during the day, he said. This is the family's second year in the program.

"It is a wonderful program," said Clark, who accompanied one of his children to the kickoff yesterday. "It is very beneficial."

The meal served yesterday consisted of a sandwich, an apple, grape juice and milk.