Food, Fun, and Sun - Story and Photo Challenge!

About the Challenge

The Summer Food Service Program (“SFSP”) is an integral part of our nation’s hunger safety-net and an important tool in our work toward ending childhood hunger in America. To help us reach this goal, we are looking for examples of SFSP Sponsors and Sites that are doing a great job to feed children and teens this summer. We want to find the great examples of successful programs so that we can let SFSP Sponsors and Sites all over the country know what works best.

We are looking for bold, creative, and exciting stories (200-400 words) and pictures, two (2) pictures per submission, which explain successful SFSP operations.  The SFSP can be a very effective tool in fighting childhood hunger during the summer months. We are collecting contest submissions to help share successful programs and raise awareness. This contest will serve as a mechanism to collect promising practices in four areas of particular interest including: working with volunteers, operating successful programs in reaching older children (12-18), programs in rural areas, and creative ideas in the SFSP.

 CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS:

1. Promising Practices with Volunteers (Recruiting and/or Utilizing): Many times, SFSP Sponsors and Sites make use of volunteers in order to staff Sites, supervise kids, serve meals, deliver meals, perform outreach and fill many other roles. If you use volunteers to support your site, let us know how in your submission. Tell us about your success. For example, share with us how you recruit volunteers, what roles they fill in your program and why your use of volunteers is particularly effective.

2. Reaching Older Children (ages 12-18) Outreach materials, programming, and discussions of the SFSP are often geared toward younger children. We know that we need to do a better job of reaching older kids and teens, ages 12-18. Tell us about your success in this area. We want to know how you perform outreach to older kids, what kinds of programming and activities you use to draw them to Sites, and what makes your program particularly effective in this area.

3. Successful Rural Programs There are many known barriers to operating successful SFSP programs in rural areas. These barriers include the long distances kids and teens must travel in order to reach Sites, delivering food to Sites, and the general increased costs associated with operating in a rural area. Tell us what barriers your program faced, and how you overcame them in your submission.  Rural programs are defined as meeting the requirement to receive the rural site reimbursement rate. See page 73 of the Administrative Guide for Sponsors (ctrl + click to follow link) for help in determining rural classification.

4. Most Creative Summer Program The range of programs operating across the country is broad. We are looking for the most effective creative programs. “Creativity” can be expressed through unique activities, locations, outreach activities, partnerships, or any other element you feel makes your program creative.

The winners’ stories in each category will be used to promote the program and successful models for feeding kids and teens during the summer in a variety of ways.  Submissions are being collected through the following email address: SFSPContest@fns.usda.gov.