Oceanside CA— The San Diego Hunger Coalition, City of Oceanside and Oceanside Unified School District invite you to community barbecues kicking-off free summer meals for children. The first event will take place today, Thursday, June 22, 2017, 11:00 am to 1:00pm at Balderrama Park, 709 San Diego Street. The second event will take place June 29, 2017, 11:00 am to 1:00pm at Libby Lake Park.
Oceanside is now better able to address child hunger thanks to a grant the San Diego Hunger Coalition wrote with the City of Oceanside resulting in a $20,000 award from the National League of Cities, Cities Combating Hunger through After school and Summer Meal Programs (CHAMPS) initiative. With the CHAMPS grant funding, the Hunger Coalition and the City of Oceanside will partner with Oceanside Unified School District to feed more children, raise awareness about child hunger and convene the North County Youth Meals Task Force, a collaborative of area summer meals sites and sponsors dedicated to increasing participation in the city’s existing out-of-school meal programs and launching additional sites.
So far this partnership has resulted in launching a new summer meal site at the Oceanside Public Library’s Downtown Civic Center branch.
In San Diego County, 1 in 5 children don’t have enough to eat for an active, healthy life. A lack of regular nutritious meals can affect a child’s ability to grow and develop causing many to fall behind in school. Oceanside has an overall poverty rate of 14.2% (1 in 7 people living below poverty level), but has many neighborhoods where the rate is higher than 20% (1 in 5 people below poverty). Families looking for free summer meals can text ‘FOOD’ (or ‘COMIDA’) to 877-877 or call 2-1-1 to find a nearby site or can click [here] to download a list of sites