Summer Food Service Program

Ordinarily SFSP area eligibility is tighter – 50% of students – but this year because of the pandemic and increased need, the USDA waived a lot of the regular SFSP rules. Relaxing eligibility is huge. Many communities that ordinarily aren’t eligible ARE eligible this summer.

If you haven’t been an SFSP site before, the best first step is to find an SFSP sponsor in your area. Your school district or the foodbank serving your county are good bets. The Ohio Dept. of Education administers SFSP statewide and can connect you with your nearest SFSP sponsor. Look for “Contact Information” at the above link. I can also help you identify your nearest SFSP sponsor.

You don’t have to go with SFSP to provide summer meals. If you are not in an eligible location or for whatever reason, SFSP won’t work, you may be able to partner with local agencies/churches/pantries to help supply food to your community.
The CSLP’s Libraries and Summer Food how-to guide has lots of info and resources: www.cslpreads.org/libraries-and-summer-food/

Things to keep in mind for this year's distribution:

It will take a lot of time, you will need help. If you are permitted to use volunteers at this time, packing meals is a great option! Board members want to do something meaningful? Have them pack meals! There are very few people that would say no to feeding kids. (We don’t have any volunteers back yet, since our buildings are still closed to the public.)
You may need to invest in bags to sort meals into. We use three bags per child – one for milk, one for unitized meals, and one for loose items/fresh fruit. Your sponsor may be able to provide bags for you.
You will need space. I suggest reserving an area just for meal prep and staging.
Figure out traffic flow that reduces touching and/or people in the building. Our building is still closed to the public. We set up in our large entryway, mark doors as in/out, and prop doors so patrons do not need to touch any surfaces. We don’t have the staff to stand out front and make sure people waiting are 6 feet apart, but we placed 6-foot markers on the floors inside.
Be flexible and learn/adapt as you go. We started with one cold meal and nine shelf-stable, and within minutes I’d decided we needed to move to all shelf-stable so we could get delivery earlier than the day of the event.

This information is being shared from Marisa Glaviano, Licking County Public Library.


Summer Food Service Program Ordinarily SFSP area eligibility is tighter – 50% of students – but this year because of the pandemic and increased need, the USDA waived a lot of the regular SFSP rules. Relaxing eligibility is huge. Many communities that ordinarily aren’t eligible ARE eligible this summer. If you haven’t been an SFSP site before, the best first step is to find an SFSP sponsor in your area. Your school district or the foodbank serving your county are good bets. The Ohio Dept. of Education administers SFSP statewide and can connect you with your nearest SFSP sponsor. Look for “Contact Information” at the above link. I can also help you identify your nearest SFSP sponsor. You don’t have to go with SFSP to provide summer meals. If you are not in an eligible location or for whatever reason, SFSP won’t work, you may be able to partner with local agencies/churches/pantries to help supply food to your community. The CSLP’s Libraries and Summer Food how-to guide has lots of info and resources: www.cslpreads.org/libraries-and-summer-food/ Things to keep in mind for this year's distribution: It will take a lot of time, you will need help. If you are permitted to use volunteers at this time, packing meals is a great option! Board members want to do something meaningful? Have them pack meals! There are very few people that would say no to feeding kids. (We don’t have any volunteers back yet, since our buildings are still closed to the public.) You may need to invest in bags to sort meals into. We use three bags per child – one for milk, one for unitized meals, and one for loose items/fresh fruit. Your sponsor may be able to provide bags for you. You will need space. I suggest reserving an area just for meal prep and staging. Figure out traffic flow that reduces touching and/or people in the building. Our building is still closed to the public. We set up in our large entryway, mark doors as in/out, and prop doors so patrons do not need to touch any surfaces. We don’t have the staff to stand out front and make sure people waiting are 6 feet apart, but we placed 6-foot markers on the floors inside. Be flexible and learn/adapt as you go. We started with one cold meal and nine shelf-stable, and within minutes I’d decided we needed to move to all shelf-stable so we could get delivery earlier than the day of the event. This information is being shared from Marisa Glaviano, Licking County Public Library.
Template 11 - NEO-RLS News-June 29, 2020