SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Starting next week, all children will be able to get free, nutritionally-balanced meals during their summer break through a partnership between Summer BreakSpot and Seminole County Public Schools’ Red Apple Dining program.
Children can receive breakfast and/or lunch at locations throughout the county. The school district says no application is necessary.
“It is a privilege for us to continue our partnership with Summer BreakSpot to provide free, healthy meals for all children in our community during the summer months,” said Jamie DeVivo, director of SCPS Red Apple Dining.
Thursday, the district provided data to News 6 that demonstrates how great the need is in our community. For the 2024-25 academic year, there were 3,586 students experiencing homelessness. A spokesperson for SCPS tells News 6 the number continues to grow as families experience financial hardship with the rising costs in our community.
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Eric Wilson, the executive director of Hearts, Hands and Hope, spoke to News 6 about the challenges many families face during the summer months.
“So many kids that would get that meal during lunch time, maybe think about two months without it,” said Wilson. “Can you imagine two months without a meal?”
Wilson walked our News 6 team through the warehouse Thursday, where kids stop by and grab bags of food to fill the gaps during the weekends. He said Hearts, Hands and Hope started out with a summer program, and since 2016 they have served millions of meals through their mission to remove food insecurity.
“Monday to Friday is great, but what about Saturday and Sunday? That’s where we come in,” Wilson said. “When it comes to the summertime, if you’re on free and reduced lunch, your last meal is Friday. Your next meal is Monday. That just doesn’t last.”
Wilson said over 14 nonprofits throughout Seminole County work together to fill those gaps and make sure that some of the most vulnerable in our community have resources to turn to.
One of the challenges many of those groups face right now is uncertainty about federal funding and what changes they may have to make if money they rely on is no longer available to them. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut two federal programs that provided roughly $1 billion in funding to schools and food banks.
“It hurts. There’s a lot of money on standby,” Wilson said. “It’s a scary time for nonprofits worldwide.”
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Wilson said he has had to make changes because of that, mostly in staffing.
“You know, we just can’t pay for extra things,” Wilson said. We can pay for the facility and the food and that’s it. Everything else is volunteer run."
Chris Ham, the executive director of the Rescue Outreach Mission in Sanford, said 30 children stayed at the shelter the night before when he spoke one-on-one with News 6 on Thursday.
“We’ve almost doubled the number of children we’re serving every night,” said Ham. “We have everything from six-month-olds to 17-year-olds, everything in between.”
Ham called the summer lunch program a great resource for families in need in our community, many of which are struggling due to a lack of affordable housing.
“The average rent is about $1,900 a month, which means your income needs to be over $60,000 a year,” Ham said. “We have municipal employees here. We have school system employees that have been here with us. Many of our folks do have jobs, but it’s just hard to make ends meet with the price of rent going up even within the last two years.”
Ham said he often works with Seminole County Public Schools to make sure students have the resources they need to succeed.
“The longer we can keep people in their housing units, the better it is for them. So, this is one way to help reduce those costs and to ensure nutritious meals for our students. That’s terribly important,” Ham said.
For more information on the summer meal program including menus, ingredients, locations, dates, and service times, click here.