A federal food reimbursement program is providing eligible facilities with funds to help cover the cost of serving healthy food to children and adults.
The Child and Adult Food Care Program is available to organizations including after-school care programs, daycares, homeless shelters and other eligible facilities.
Brandy Rea, executive director of Wesley House, said the program could help participating organizations stretch their resources further while providing nutritious food to people experiencing food insecurity.
“This gives us things like fresh vegetables, fruits, cheese, milk, which is very much needed for those with food insecurity,” Rea said. “Any amount of money that we can save just allows us to purchase more to serve that many more people.”
People who are low-income and receive government assistance such as SNAP may automatically qualify for the program through participating facilities.
Ron Collier, director of Multi-County, said rising household expenses are putting additional pressure on families’ budgets.
“As we see, gas prices, which seem that they’re falling now, rise, food costs rise, rent prices rise,” Collier said. “It’s hard to spend 27% of your money on taxes and Social Security and the other 60% on rental costs, and then you’ve got to buy and make everything else work.”
The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Mississippi Department of Education says the program can play a vital role in improving the quality of day care.
For organizations serving children and adults, the reimbursement funds can help offset food costs and allow facilities to dedicate more of their resources to serving their communities.
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