For many kids from poor families, summer isn’t always fun.
Their families can’t afford the summer camps or idyllic beach vacations that many of us associate with the long school break. Instead, kids sit at home all summer long. And it’s not only boredom they’re battling, it’s hunger.
What happens when kids spend a summer bored and hungry? They undergo the “summer slide.” These kids can return to school a full three months behind in reading and math compared to their more affluent classmates. In other words, hunger is damaging their brains.
There are 22 million kids in America that rely on free or reduced price meals at school; when schools close for the summer break, some of those kids go hungry.
Miles from the cool ocean breezes and glittering art deco buildings of South Beach, kids wait out the summer in crowded housing projects with nothing to do. That’s where No Kid Hungry and our partners enter the story. All across the country, we work with local community groups to feed kids free, nutritious summer meals. And in many places, that meal comes with a book, a swimming lesson or a chance to play music.
“To prevent the summer slide we have literacy programs,” explains Tisha Coleman, who organizes summer meals sites in Florida. “We do exercise programs with the kids. We come out and play football or kickball. We have art sessions for them.”
Desmond Symonette is a DJ and producer who grew up in Miami in these same neighborhoods. Now he works with Motivational Edge, an organization that goes to summer meals sites to provide cultural enrichment to low-income kids. Desmond is a lyricist who specializes in teaching the kids how to rap and freestyle.
“I wanted to show youth, in the same situation that I used to be in, that there are ways to express themselves other than resorting to violence, drug use, or other bad things,” he shares. “You’re able to prevent mental trauma that can stick with them for the rest of their lives just by giving them a platform. I tell them, ‘I know you’re mad right now. You’re upset because your mom doesn’t have money to get you these new shoes, let’s put that in a song. Let’s express that through music.’”
Last year, Florida served 15.4 million summer meals to kids facing hunger. And while kids were eating, they were also reading, playing sports and making art in safe and fun environments — and each of those meals took a bite out of that summer slide.
