School holidays can be a stressful time for families who rely on schools’ free and reduced lunch programs to feed their kids. That's why Second Harvest teamed up with local organizations to provide those families with meals over the Thanksgiving break.
More than 700 children attended Thanksgiving camps at 12 Orange County Parks and Recreation sites this week.
Activities Director Clay Baker said the county partnered with Second Harvest to make sure children who qualified for free and reduced lunch got two hot meals a day.
“We have an itinerary set up for the kids and then we feed them breakfast through Second Harvest and we have a lunch.”
Second Harvest's Erika Spence says the organization also partnered with Orange County Schools to send children who qualify for the food assistance program home with backpacks full of food meant to last them through the break.
“We also send backpacks home and they might be a larger backpack with more food than normal on a weekend. We might also include in there resources of places parents could go to get more food for their children.”
For a complete list of local food banks, visit the food locator on the Second Harvest website.
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