Summer Eats Minnesota Mobile App Returns Statewide for Second Year

MINNEAPOLIS, June 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Come summertime, free nutritious meals for kids can be a click away. For the second summer, a mobile phone app showing kids where to get free nutritious meals includes approximately 700 sites across Minnesota. Hunger Impact Partners (HIP) is a local nonprofit aimed at nourishing children so they get a healthy start in life to support academic performance.

The app, called Summer Eats Minnesota, is free at the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Powered by GPS, it shows locations of summer food sites, their menus and days/hours of operation. Kids 18 and under can show up without prior signup for free meals at these open site locations, including park and recreation sites, community centers, libraries and schools. The app shows the distance and directions to the nearest sites.

“The app is an easy way to find free summer meals when school meals aren’t available, and we hope everyone - both children and adults - will download Summer Eats Minnesota app,” said Ellie Lucas, CEO of Hunger Impact Partners. “We developed the app in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Education so we could reach more children around the state. This year we reached out to over 7,000 individuals and groups--from school nurses to social workers to police departments.”

Trent Tucker, former NBA and Gopher basketball star and now a HIP spokesman, will help promote use of the app through Public Service Announcements, appearances and media interviews.

“I’m eager to work on behalf of children and teens to make sure they get the nutrition they need to perform at their best--academically, physical, mentally and artistically,” Tucker said.

Many kids don’t know how to access food programs in summer. In fact, in 2016 Minnesota ranked 19^th among 50 states in feeding children in the summer, with summer food programs reaching more than 18 percent of the 322,176 eligible kids grades K-12.

“We are working to increase participation by 20 percent, which would add 2.7 million meals and $6 million in reimbursement revenue from the federal government,” Lucas said.

The sites served 169,621 meals and collected nearly $706,104 in corresponding U.S. Department of Agriculture reimbursement revenue. As of today, the app has already been downloaded a total of 2,200 times.

For more information about summer meals:

https://www.summereatsmn.org/

Contact:
Doug Stone, 651-336-9907; stone7586@gmail.com