Mayor Urges Low-Income Families To Take Advantage Of Summer Meals Program For Kids
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Now that Philadelphia schoolchildren are being let out of classes for the summer, Mayor Michael Nutter has helped kick off a free summer meals program.
During the school year, thousands of low-income students eat free or reduced-price meals at city schools. Last summer, although more than 91,000 children ate meals thanks to this program, that was still 47,000 fewer than the number of students who received those school meals during the school year.
Mayor Nutter says that's why the theme of the program is "Food That's In, Even When School's Out."
"No child, no person -- but certainly no child -- should ever be hungry in this country," the mayor said today. "That is unacceptable at any level."
Families can call the city's "311" call center for their nearest summer meals site. There are more than a thousand of them, including recreation centers, schools, churches, parks, and public housing complexes.
Reported by Steve Tawa, KYW Newsradio 1060
