Making summer brighter - articles on Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program for Children

Food and Nutrition, Jan, 1987 by Tina Serrano, Marian Wig

Making Summer Brighter...

Surrounded by housing developmentsand industrial parks in Horsham, Pennsylvania, just off the Pennsylvania Turnpike, are 234 acres of open space. Within their beech-lined borders are fields of grass and Friendship Lake, frequented by deer, dragonflies, and a host of other wildlife.

The tranquility here is disturbed onlyby the ripple of Pennypack Creek and the laughter of children. A sharp contrast to the neighboring area, the property is also a contrast to the home environments of the kids who visit the site.

Each summer, several hundred7-through 14-year-old youngsters from Philadelphia are residential guests of The College Settlement of Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization with roots in Pennsylvania since the 1920s.

During four 2-week camping sessions,about 560 children, many of whom are from families with incomes below the poverty level, have a chance to explore nature, swim, eat nourishing food, and "bunk" with children of various backgrounds, cultures, religious affiliations, and nationalities.

Camp participates

in USDA programs

The College Settlement ofPhiladelphia provides proper nutrition to its campers through an interesting menu. The organization receives financial assistance, nutrition guidance, and donated foods provided through USDA's Summer Food Service Program for Children and the Food Distribution Program.

Under the Summer Food ServiceProgram, approved day and residential camps are reimbursed for meals served free to enrolled children who are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs.

Participating camps may serve up tofour meals per day, including breakfast, a snack, lunch, and supper. The same meal must be served to all children, regardless of their reimbursement status. The program was established to insure that school vacations did not end the availability of nutritious meals to kids who were eligible for assistance during the school year.

"We became involved with the SummerFood Service Program in 1977," says Frank Gerome, who has been executive director of The College Settlement of Philadelphia since 1982.

"Our philosophy has always beenthat these youngsters deserve the very, very best in program facilities and food. Just because we happen to be a charity doesn't mean that the children should have a second-rate experience.

"It would be very easy for us to openup a can of ravioli and serve that," Gerome says. "It's not very expensive. But the Summer Food Service Program has made it easier for us to serve lots of foods like poultry and fresh fish. It would be very difficult for us to do this if we didn't have help."

A new experience

for many children

The camp's meals and schedule area new experience for many of the children. As Gerome explains, a typical day at home for some of the children begins at 10 or 11 a.m. and consists of staying inside, watching television, and eating foods like potato chips, pretzels, and soda.

"When we get them here at camp,they get up at 7:30," he says. "It's the middle of the night to them. Then we give them a full breakfast, a full lunch at noon, and a full dinner at 5:30. They get three good solid meals with all they want to eat and all the milk they want to drink."

Through the meals at the camp,youngsters are exposed to food items they might be trying for the first time.

"Some of the foods they're not usedto," says Gerome. "For instance, we serve vegetable pie with cheese sauce. We also serve things like chef's salad and meatless spaghetti."

In some settings, kids might not beinclined to try unfamiliar foods. "But here," says Gerome, "you have youngsters coming to the dining hall at 12:30 for lunch or 5:30 for supper and they haven't had anything to eat for a few hours. They see something they haven't seen before, but they're hungry, so they'll try it. At least we've exposed them to a different type of food and maybe they'll remember it for later on."

Yogurt topped with cherries, bakedchicken, homemade soup, beef stew, turkey, and ham keep the camp menu far and above the typical one, which it used to be.

Meal quality has

been improved

Two years ago, Gerome moved toimprove the quality of the camp's meals.

"The dining hall staff is the key tostarting any kind of nutrition program," says Gerome. "When I initiated this program a couple of years ago, it all hinged on how they would react to it.

"For instance, we don't serve preparedfoods. When we're serving fish, we bake it. Can you imagine trying to bake 200 pieces of fresh flounder? It's a mammoth job. And not to deep fry? These people were used to deep frying foods like fish, french fries, and chicken."

Miriam Peoples doesn't mind thechange, even if it means more work for her to order and handle a bigger variety of food items. The elderly, softspoken food services manager and the first two cooks, who are her daughters, feel their jobs are gratifying because they know they are providing nutritious meals.

"I don't think about the problems,"says Peoples. "I just think about what's best for the children. They love it. I never have any complaints. They get plenty of food, and we make sure it's served right."