Serving Up Healthy Food to Happy Kids All Summer 

He was enjoying a chicken wrap with vegetables in it, along with a side of carrot sticks during a recent lunch in June. His summer program in Apopka is one of more than 50 Summer BreakSpot sites supported by Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida that serves free breakfasts and lunches to kids under 18 all summer.  

Access to Summer Meals in Rural Communities Helps Relieve Stress for Families 

The mom of two high-schoolers and two second graders with autism spectrum disorder put on a brave face as she pulled into the Summer BreakSpot rural distribution site at St. Luke’s Baptist Church in Sanford in June. 

She can’t afford a summer camp, and she can’t take her kids to a traditional Summer BreakSpot site to eat a prepared breakfast and lunch every day. She could barely squeeze in the drive to St. Luke’s to pick up boxes with a week’s worth of breakfasts and lunches for each kid before having to hurry home.

Culinary Training Gave Krystal a Career and Hope

When Krystal started the Culinary Training Program, she did not expect it to change her life the way it did.

“I didn’t think it was anything, and it was more than I could have expected,” Krystal said. “I wish everybody could come to this program. It’s giving me hope that I can have a career (to better support) my kids.”

Fighting Hunger on the Front Lines this Summer  

Every child should have access to the nutritious food they need. Yet, food insecurity affects 1 in 6 kids in Central Florida, impacting their physical and mental health and development.  

This problem intensifies over the summer.