Summer Meals Program

For almost ten years, PVEN has gone out into the community to feed children over the summer months with the assitance of the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the USDA’s SUN Meals Program (Summer Food Service Program – SFSP). In 2024, PVEN was able to serve 21,630 lunches to 4,326 children over 11 weeks. 

Our reason for doing this is simple: no kid deserves to go hungry. Period.

Childhood hungry and/or food insecurity doesn’t only affect a child during their formative years by hindering physical and intellectual development and potential for academic success, but it also echoes over the course of the entire lifespan. Kaiser-Permanente’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study documented that experiences like childhood hunger negatively affect lifelong health outcomes, while also potentially causing emotional trauma that may impact that child for the remainder of their life, as well as the familial generations after them. 

PVEN’s Summer Meals Program also creates an opportunity to provide nutrition education and information on local resources to hundred of low-income families in Monroe County. PVEN’s staff creates healthy recipes and cultivates lists of local resources that benefit low-income families and distributes this information in our Summer Lunch kits.  

With guidance from the PA Department of Education and the USDA, we are now able to distribute 5 shelf-stable healthy meals for each child so parents only need to come out to our location once per week. The hours of the program are tailored to accommodate working parents and distributions are done via drive thru so pickup will be quick and easy for caregivers. 

There are no income or residency requirements for participants in this program. We want ALL children to have a fair shot at growing up healthy, happy, and able to fulfill their potential for the whole community’s benefit.