The Walmart Foundation recently committed nearly a quarter million dollars to a summer meals program for youth run by the city of Seattle.
The program provides free breakfast and lunch to young people aged one to 18, in close to 90 sites across Seattle. Those sites include community centers, Boys and Girls Clubs, YWCAs, YMCAs and city playground parks. Sometimes known as "Summer Sack Lunch," the program received $400,000 from the USDA in 2010. Close to 4,300 children took advantage of the program last year.
The grant from the Walmart Foundation, totaling $225,000, will increase the scope of what's available to children this year. Not only will the program help fill hungry bellies Mondays through Fridays throughout the summer, the extra funds will allow for a few enhancements: Saturday lunch will be provided at several sites; the Puget Sound Food Network will offer take-away bags of local produce for families to use over the weekend; and the Seattle Public Library will provide story time in five languages at some sites, along with free books to children.
"We're appreciative of their support," David Takami, representative of the city's Human Services Department, said of the Walmart Foundation.
The initial June 25 announcement of the local grant came five days after Wal-Mart made national headlines. On June 20, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the corporate giant in Wal-Mart vs. Dukes, a class-action discrimination lawsuit brought by female employees who sought to sue one of the world's most profitable corporations. The high court's ruling effectively ended what would have been the largest class-action lawsuit in history, potentially involving one million women.
Takami said that the city, after being approached by the Walmart Foundation, applied for local funding last year, when the case was still making its way through the judicial system.
But court decisions aside, the Walmart Foundation, according to the company's website, has designated 2011 as a time to "expand summer services for kids." That effort is supported by a $25-million, nationwide giving campaign focused on "filling the gaps created when schools close for the summer."
The Walmart Foundation -- connected to the stores selling food that runs the gamut from organic baby food to high-fructose-corn-syrup laden cookies -- estimates that some 8 millions meals will be served to children across the country.
Takami said the local program, in its first iteration, began in the 1970s, and has thus been providing meals for young people for more than 40 summers. The sites receive meals prepared by the Seattle Public School system, which feeds students who receive free or reduced lunches during the school year, he said.
The summer program fills an important need, Takami said.
"With so many families in Seattle experiencing economic hardship, the program is especially important this year," wrote Takami in an email. "Kids who received free or reduced-fee lunches at school can continue to get nutritious meals and snacks over the summer break."
The free meals program runs until Fri., Aug. 26. To find a site in your area, visit tinyurl.com/3vzz2st and enter your zip code.