This summer, you might see our trucks around town on routes to Conexión Américas, Project Transformation, Preston Taylor Ministries or Napier Kitchen Table. You may also catch us on our way to some elementary schools, despite the summer break — A Z Kelley in Antioch, or Hull Jackson in Buena Vista Heights. For all of these daily site visits, the trucks will be loaded up with fresh fruits, scratch-made meals chock-full of veggies and proteins, and cold milk for about 600 kids in Nashville. This is the work of our Sweet Peas: Summer Eats for Kids program, sponsored by Jackson® for the third consecutive year!
Every school year, Metro Nashville Public Schools serves 8.4 million lunches and 4 million breakfasts. But during the summer months, without these daily meals, many youth are at risk of hunger. Despite robust government programs in place to increase food access, Business Insider reported in 2019 that only 16% of children who depend on USDA-funded summer meals are actually able to access them.
That’s why, for the fourth year in a row, we have partnered with diverse summer programming sites across the city to ensure that children still receive the meals they depend on during the summer. Thanks to a long-standing partnership with Jackson®, we anticipate sharing 10,000 nutritious meals at 15 different sites this June and July. This is in addition to the ongoing local partnerships the Food Project maintains year-round.
Since the program’s genesis in 2019, we have shared over 63,000 meals with kids during the summer months. But the work goes beyond that. School is a major social touchpoint for most children, and summer can be a challenging and lonely time for some. A good meal is often an entry-point for our partners to develop life-changing relationships with the kids who come through their doors: it fills a need, starts a conversation and creates a culture of trust and interdependence. As our partner Nations Ministry said last year,
“Because of the food The Nashville Food Project serves, we have been able to continue building trust with our students which has in turn allowed them to feel safer at our program and in our staff’s care.”
So of course, we hope that Sweet Peas cultivates a new crop of broccoli enthusiasts, strawberry lovers and adventurous eaters. But our greatest hope is that it cultivates deep community. We are so grateful for and impressed by the work our partners do to give kids safe and engaging places to connect when school is out. It’s an honor to be involved in this interconnected community by setting as many places as possible at an overflowing table.
We hope you’ll follow along with us on social media as we share updates from Sweet Peas this summer!
Click here to learn more about the 2022 SFSP meal sites sponsored by The Nashville Food Project.