Making sure South Georgia kids don't go hungry this summer is now as easy as sending a text message.
You can send a text and quickly find out the nearest location for free summer meals programs designed to make sure children don't miss a healthy lunch while they're out of school.
You text the world "FoodGA" to 877-877. That will tell you the nearest locations for free summer meals and organizers say those food programs are needed in South Georgia more than ever.
At noon, dozens of kids enjoy lunch at the Henderson Gym in South Albany.
"On the menu we have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids, which they love," said City of Albany Parks and Recreation Supervisor Chris Henderson.
The City of Albany Recreation Department serves free lunch to any child during the summer at five of their facilities. There are other organizations that sponsor 56 open free summer lunch programs for kids under age 18 throughout the Albany area. Officials running these food programs say the need is greater today than ever.
"Statewide the childhood poverty rate is over twenty percent. Here locally in the region around Albany we're over fifty percent. We try to design these programs so we can help these kids be successful in life," said Second Harvest of South Georgia Chief Executive Officer Frank Richards.
Sixty percent of the children of Georgia receive free or reduced lunch at school most of the year, but during the summer only 15 percent participate in summer meal programs. Now the Georgia Food Bank Association has set up this text program so families can find out where a good lunch is ready for them.
Just text the word "FoodGA" to 877-877 and put in your address and the system will send you the three closest locations to you.
The idea is that nutrition will help kids grow strong, and improve community troubles.
"Dropout rates, indigent health care, workers comp rates. All these things are affected by whether or not people are properly nourished. Providing these kids with programs makes sure that we reduce these rates in Southwest Georgia," Richards said.
The Georgia Food Bank Association and the City of Albany Recreation food programs are all backed by the United States Department of Agriculture. Right now the recreation department is averaging three thousand meals a week. The Food Bank about 1,200 meals a day.
Officials at both those organizations say they are seeing more kids who need these free lunches and say for some of these kids it may be the only meal they get a day.
Second Harvest of South Georgia is preparing to invest more than a million dollars in infrastructure over the next two years in the Albany area to feed more people.
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