Summer break traditionally means fun and relaxation for students, but it also can be a challenging time for low-income families who rely on school meal programs to help make ends meet.
Feeding San Diego’s annual Fuel for Summer campaign is helping fill that need and has raised more than 1.2 million meals by hosting 26 summer meal sites thoughout the county.
A barbecue and other events planned by summer’s end are expected to feed even more children.
An estimated 120,000 area children, or one out of six youths in San Diego County, face hunger throughout the year while thousands lose access to nutritious school meals over summer, accordgin to Feeding San Diego.
Besides hosting summer meal sites, the organizationalso hosts Summer Fun Café sites in partnership with San Diego Unified School District and holds regional food distributions once a month during summer.
Three upcoming events will raise funds for the summer meals program, beginning with a July 13 all-you-can-eat barbecue at Jamul Casino. Ticketsw are $25 and are available at give.feedingsandiego.org/bbq.
From 6 to 8 p.m. July 24, all Baron’s Markets will hold Backroom Beer Pairings, with proceeds going to Feeding San Diego. Tickets are $15 and available under the local events section at baronsmarket.com.
From 8 p.m. to midnight Aug. 3, Rocktoc at Himmelberg’s in downtown San Diego will host a free “Punk Goes ‘90s Pop” music show, with 10 percent of food sales going to Feeding San Diego.
Large donors to the campaign so far include NBC 7, Telemundo 20, Ralphs and Food4Less, which together raised funds to provite 180,000 meals from May 13 through June 9.
Attorney King Aminpour donated funds for 180,000 meals to the campaign, including an 80,000 meal match for the Food from the Bar campaign. In all, the legal community of San Diego County raised enough to provide 175,000 meals through the Food from the Bar campaign.
Fashion Valley’s “Dine Out for a Cause” fundraiser June 13 provided 12,000 meals through participation from 9th & Lex Café at Bloomingdale’s, Bibigo Kitchen, Blanco Tacos + Tequila, North Italia, Pure Burger, So Sushi and STACKED! Each restaurant donated at least 10 percent of their sales to Feeding San Diego
The San Diego Padres also pitched in by helping fund 3,000 meals through tickets purchased for the July 1 game at Petco Park.
To learn more about Feeding San Diego and additional ways to get involved in the Fuel for Summer campaign, visit feedingsandiego.org/fuelforsummer.
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