The USDA is working with private sector partners to deliver 1 million boxes of food to children affected by COVID-19-related school closures.
The Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty will meet with appropriate state officials to prioritize students who do not currently have access to a Summer Food Service program site and have an active outbreak of COVID-19.
In addition, PepsiCo will provide $1 million in funding to Baylor to facilitate nationwide distribution in the coming weeks. The boxes of food will contain five days worth of nutritious, individually packaged foods that meet USDA’s summer food requirements.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced proactive flexibilities last week to allow meal service during school closures to minimize potential exposure to COVID-19. Schools can leverage their participation in one of USDA’s summer meal programs to provide meals at no cost to students. Perdue said that those meals must be served in a group setting, but in a public health emergency the law allows USDA the authority to waive the group setting meal requirement, which is vital during a social distancing situation.
To date, USDA has been asked to waive congregate feeding requirements in all 50 states and those requests have all been granted.
