Weekend Meals
Fill the gap
While many children who are at-risk of food insecurity receive free or reduced-priced meals at school, they often go without healthy meals on weekends and during school breaks when school meals are unavailable. Weekend meals fill the gap with nutritious food for many children.
Weekend meal boxes include shelf-stable meals which are intended to complement meal services currently provided by school districts, childcare facilities or youth-serving organizations. Weekend meal packs include pre-packaged breakfast and pre-packaged lunch/dinner meals.
Children’s Hunger Alliance supports weekend food access by:
- Collecting aggregate data on student eligibility
- Purchasing food items
- Assembling meal boxes for each site and/or school
- Delivering meal boxes through our regional vendors
We offer the option for no-cost weekend meal boxes for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) eligible students. All students participating in CHA’s weekend meals program must be TANF-eligible (200% or below the poverty level). There are several ways that the school can verify this information without using identifiable student data and CHA will work with schools to determine the best way to collect information and reduce administrative burden.
Children’s Hunger Alliance recognizes that your staff have a busy schedule, so we strive to minimize your food-related obligations. You simply agree to:
- Verify student TANF eligibility
- Receive and store delivered meal boxes
- Distribute meal boxes to eligible students
- Participate in periodic feedback/evaluation
