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In 2020, the COVID-19 crisis revealed the prevalence of child hunger in Missouri when school buildings closed and thousands of children were suddenly faced with losing the breakfasts and lunches they relied on at school. We learned that households with children worry about how to make ends meet when kids aren’t in school and got a better look at the challenges long breaks, like summertime, pose for families facing hunger. Many of Ozarks Food Harvest’s partner charities made changes during the pandemic that have lasted to this day – like Community Outreach Ministries (COM) in Bolivar, who added a kids’ summer lunch program to their services that is now entering its fourth summer.

Micah Titterington, the executive director of COM, is very familiar with the extra expenses families deal with during summer break, as he and his wife provide for six children in their household. He explains, “Kids are expensive. During breaks, it’s like, I guess our grocery bill for this week’s going to be half of the entire month’s grocery budget because they’re all at home and all eating.” On top of food, parents and guardians have to consider the costs of higher utility bills and all-day childcare in the summer. For many families, three meals a day is simply not in the budget.

That uncertainty is a problem for children who require nutritious fuel to nourish their bodies and minds. As Micah shared, “Child hunger specifically is an important topic for us to look at because, when we think about kids, those early childhood experiences really do impact people for better or worse later on.”

One of COM’s core values is “assets-based community development” which means that rather than focusing on a community’s brokenness, COM focuses on its strengths and assets. They view people not just as recipients, but as people who have something to offer. Food is a basic need that allows for their strengths to grow. This is true for everyone, but especially for children who are not yet done growing.

Unfortunately, 1 in 5 children in southwest Missouri worry about where their next meal is coming from – a challenge that’s even more prevalent in summertime when school meals aren’t available for up to three months.

That’s why COM agreed to step up when the Polk County Health Center reached out about the need in 2020. Now COM offers free, nutritious lunches to children five days a week in July through mid-August. They partner with several community groups including the Health Center, who helps prepare meals at nearby First Christian Church that generously lends its kitchen to the cause. COM also partners with Ozarks Food Harvest to make meals happen.

Ozarks Food Harvest supports COM’s summer lunches through supplemental food and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), a federally funded program that helps children have nutritious meals over the summer months. Micah said The Food Bank’s support is what makes many of their services, including summer lunches, possible.

“Ozarks Food Harvest makes [summer lunch] easy for us,” he shared. “We try to build as much of our menu as we can around what Ozarks Food Harvest can provide. Right now, food expense is the main concern, but through Ozarks Food Harvest and the SFSP, that alleviates that big concern.”

Child summer hunger is sadly not a new issue, but there is something we can do about it. Together with our supporters and partner charities, we’re making sure kids across the Ozarks enjoy their summer now and nourish their strengths for the future. Thank you to Community Outreach Ministries for caring for children in Polk County. Together, we are Transforming Hunger into Hope.