Online map helps low-income find free meals

An online map is available from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to help low-income families find locations where children can receive free meals this summer.

The map, which allows users to narrow their search by city, county or ZIP code, pinpoints hundreds of locations across the state where meals will be provided through the state health department's Summer Food Service Program.

Community organizations serve the meals at schools, churches, parks, Boys and Girls Clubs and other locations where children gather when school is not in session, the health department said in a news release. Eleven locations serve meals in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Scott, Perry and Stoddard counties.

The meals are provided to children who receive free or reduced-price meals during the regular school year. Registration is not required and there is no fee to participate in the program.

Gail Vasterling, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said in the summer months when school is not in session, children who receive meals at school are at risk of not getting adequate nutrition. That's why the department created the interactive map as a tool for families to find locations where children can receive meals during that time, she said.

The map is at dhss.mo.gov/sfsp. More information also is available by calling 1-888-435-1464 or, for the hearing- and speech-impaired, 1-800-735-2966.

Meals are served to children ages 18 and younger. They also are provided to 18- to 21-year-old individuals determined by the state or local educational agency to be mentally or physically disabled and who participate in an established school program for the mentally or physically disabled.

Funding for Summer Food Service Program is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Organizations interested in providing meals through the program also may write to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Summer Food Service Program, P.O. Box 570, Jefferson City, MO 65102.