While providing children with nutritious meals is the top priority of USDA’s summer meal programs, activity programming is also important for healthy kids.
Libraries remain a part of the fiber of American communities, with over 123,000 operating across the nation. And in states like Idaho, libraries provided children with more than just books! For the second straight year, the Idaho Commission for Libraries teamed up with AmeriCorps VISTAs and local summer meal sites to offer “Literacy in the Park”, a program to bring fun educational activities to existingSummer Food Service Program meal sites.
They say “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it”! But “Literacy in the Park” proved that you can certainly add to it! Julie Armstrong from the Commission for Libraries said, “We thought, if kids are already at the parks eating, let’s offer them literacy activities along with those meals.” Ten AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers from the Idaho Foodbank assisted with literacy programs at different Boise sites, each sponsored by the Idaho Foodbank and the Oasis Food Center.
The AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associate Program supports USDA’s effort to ensure children do not go hungry during summer months, but they also want to make sure kids don’t lose ground when they return to class in the fall. USDA has partnered with the Corporation for National and Community Service for four years to strategically place VISTAs in areas of need, where great programs like “Literacy in the Park” make a difference in children’s lives.
Museums can play important roles as well. FNS partners with the Institute of Museum and Library Services to feed minds and bodies during the summer. In fact, there are more than 35,000 museums in the United States, so the opportunities Idaho leveraged with libraries are possible with museums. So not only can museums and libraries support existing sites, they can become sites themselves!
FNS continues to encourage partnerships between the Institute of Museum and Library Services, VISTAs and the Summer Food Service Program… And now you can do the same!
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