SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Budget cuts have forced Food Bank of Santa Barbara County to cancel its popular "Picnic in the Park" summertime meal distribution program.
For more than 10 years, Food Bank has held the program during the summer at about a dozen park sites throughout Santa Barbara County.
The program offers children ages 18-and-under a free meal at selected parks each weekday to help ensure that every child in the county receives a lunchtime meal while school is out for the summer.
According to Food Bank, about 1,500 kids annually take advantage of the free meal distribution, but those in need will have to find alternatives this year.
"Today is the first day of summer and summer break," said Laurel Alcantar, Food Bank of Santa Barbara County Marketing Director. "Normally the Food bank would be hosting our first day of Picnic in the Park today, but this year, we've really had to look at streamlining our operations in areas where we can have the greatest impact. With government cuts in food supply over $4 million, we've had to take a hard look, so we've cut that program this year."
For those families looking for an alternative, Food Bank is now referring them towards meal distributions being provided by county school districts.
"We are asking families who might be in need of help or organizations who are directing families to help, to go ahead and look at our food distributions on our website and connect with their local school district," said Alcantar. "Many of our school districts have multiple lunch sites where they're serving meals for kids and we have quite a few distribution sites throughout the week, so there's something available for all of the families who might need help."
In Santa Maria, Santa Maria-Bonita School District (SMBSD) is launching its Summer Meal Program on Monday.
Over the next two months, the district will provide a free breakfast and lunch at various sites to kids who are age 1-to-18-years-old.
Distributions sites for SMBSD include the Santa Maria Valley YMCA, Arellanes Elementary School, Fesler Junior High School, Jimenez Elementary School and Santa Maria Foursquare Church.
SMBSD will distribute breakfast meals from 9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. and lunch from noon to 12:30 p.m.
Other districts also providing free meals for children during the summer includes Santa Barbara Unified School District, Lompoc Unified School District, Goleta Union School District, Buellton Union School District, Blochman Union School District, as well as the United Boys and Girls Club of Greater Santa Barbara County.
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