Fuel Your Summer

Overview March 21, 2018

Fuel Your Summer
No Excuse to be Bored this Summer!

The Sacramento Summer Meals Collaborative and its partners are thrilled to present Fuel Your Summer, which provides youth with access to the nutrition they need to grow and thrive during the summer months.

The Fuel your summer toolkit includes resources for site operators to help maintain and increase participation in summer meal service programs throughout the region. Explore the Fuel Your Summer Program and all the resources it has to offer below or download the full toolkit.

We keep adding to the toolkit, so check back often.

Success Story May 29, 2019 Fuel kids' minds and bellies this summer. Help Reduce the Summer Slide.

Fuel Your Summer at these United Way sponsored sites
Free and nutritious meals for local kids

United Way’s Summer Meals Program provides free and nutritious meals for children who may otherwise not have access during the summer months when they are out of school from June through August 2019. (Dates and hours may vary per location.)

Free meals will be provided to ALL children, without eligibility documentation, who are 18 years and younger.This partnership is also made possible with the support of 2-1-1 Sacramento.

Post April 19, 2019

Summer STARS

Summer STARS helps combat the summer slide by offering free educational enrichment programming at 20 convenient neighborhood locations throughout the Sacramento region starting in June through August.

Creates a fun and safe summer spot for kids and families in their neighborhood
Provides kids with free healthy meal throughout the summer
Offers early literacy curriculum and fitness activities designed for Kindergarten through 6th Graders
Encourages kids’ participation and attendance with the opportunity to earn weekly STARS badges and Summers STARS backpack at the end of the summer
Tracks program impacts with reading assessments at the start and end of the summer

United Way Summer STARS fact sheet

Help us keep kids on track for the next school year and ready to achieve with a gift to support United Way’s Summer STARS.

Donate Now

Learn how you can help

Post May 11, 2018

Easy-to-Lead Activities for Volunteers, Parents, and Staff
Download these activities to supplement your summer program

Here you will find hundreds of activities to plan and implement with kids and teens to help make you summer site a fun and exciting place to be.

Post May 14, 2018

CA Meals for Kids
A brand new app to find summer meal locations!

There is a new way to stay updated on Summer Meal sites! The Department of Education released a new, free app called CA Meals for Kids. This application makes it easy to find sites by physical location, custom map, county, city, zip code and partial site name. Users can filter searches by service status and meal types (e.g. lunch, snacks, etc.).

Any smart device using Apple, Google Play, or Microsoft stores are available to use.

For complete App details, visit: https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/mo/cameals.asp

Success Story August 6, 2018 Fuel kids' minds and bellies this summer. Help Reduce the Summer Slide.

More Than Just Free Meals
Nurse Scholars teach kids about nutrition and wellness at free summer meal program sites.

United Way’s Summer Meals 2018 Program provided free and nutritious meals for children who may otherwise not have access during the summer months when they are out of school. This year, we have continued a partnership with Samuel Merritt University and their Nurse Scholars for a second summer. This partnership is also made possible with the support of UC Cooperative Extension and 2-1-1 Sacramento.

Post May 8, 2018

Best Practices

Learning from other communities is a great way to enhance your Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) site. The USDA has gathered best practices from communities across the nation and compiled resources to help increase the efficiency of your summer meal program.

USDA Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Best Practices: Program Access and Expansion

http://www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/best-practices-program-access-and-expansion

USDA Meal Service Best Practices

http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/sfsp/SMT-MealServiceBestPractices.pdf

Post May 11, 2018

How to Recruit, Train and Manage Volunteers to Support the Summer Food Service Program

This resource is intended to provide a basic overview of the volunteer management process to help you develop a plan to recruit, train, manage, and engage volunteers. While this list is a good overview and quick resource, we suggest you continue to research volunteer management as it relates to your program in order for your volunteer program to thrive.

Volunteers play a critical role for many Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sites across the region. Engaging volunteers to help support your program can help enhance meal service and support enrichment activities to keep youth engaged and coming back all summer long. The number of volunteers you need will depend on many factors, including the role the volunteer will play in the summer meal program, including serving meals, leading activities, how many meals you anticipate serving each day, and existing staff to support your summer efforts.

Post May 10, 2018

Hosting a Summer Kick Off event

A summer kick-off event is a perfect opportunity to engage the community and promote your summer meal site while having a fun, family-friendly event. The scale of your summer kick-off event will vary depending on your organization’s capacity and resources available.

Kick-off events help to introduce summer meals to your community. The goal of the event is to get parents, children and the community excited about your summer meal program.

Post May 11, 2018

Marketing and Promotion
General marketing tips, sample social media, PSAs, etc.

Marketing and promoting your summer meals program is important for getting the word out about your site and to get kids and teens to keep company. We’ve made it easy for you to choose the right message, the best tool, and customize the message to fit your needs – you’ll find sample text for public service announcements, newsletters, social media, letters to parents, calendar listings, and best practices to go along with them!

Post May 8, 2018

Fuel Your Summer Locations

Below is a list of 2019 United Way sponsored sites in the greater Sacramento region.

Antelope

Sacramento Public Library, North Highlands Branch

4235 Antelope Rd • Antelope 95843

June 10, 2019 – August 2, 2019
EVERY TUESDAY – FRIDAY
Lunch will be served at noon

Fair Oaks

Sacramento Public Library, Fair Oaks Branch

11601 Fair Oaks Blvd. • Fair Oaks 95628

June 12, 2019 – August 2, 2019
EVERY TUESDAY – FRIDAY
Lunch will be served at noon
Lunch will be served at 1 p.m.

Sacramento

Rancho Cordova Library

9845 Folsom Blvd • Sacramento, CA 95827

June 10, 2019 – August 2, 2019
Lunch will be served at noon

Washington Square Apartments

410 10th St.• Sacramento 95814

June 18, 2019 – August 15, 2019
EVERY MONDAY – FRIDAY
Lunch will be served at 12 p.m.
Afternoon snack will be served at 3:00 pm

LINC Housing, Mosaic Gardens

4058 Taylor Terrace • Sacramento 95838

June 24, 2019 – August 8, 2019
EVERY MONDAY – FRIDAY
Lunch will be served at 12:30 p.m. and an afternoon snack at 4:00 p.m.