Former Library Director Laurenne Teachout and current Library Director Kim Roppolo share how beneficial serving free summer meals to kids has been—both to their library and their upstate rural community.
Libraries provide much more than books. From offering educational classes to lending snowshoes and museum passes, libraries—especially in rural areas—act as a central hub for their communities. Across New York, libraries have taken their offerings one step further by providing free summer meals to kids and teens for over a decade.
The Summer Food Service Program, commonly referred to as summer meals, is a federal nutrition program that provides reimbursement for meals served to children and teens when school is not in session. Summer months can be especially challenging for families because children lose access to meals at school. In summer 2024, nearly 2,500 summer meal sites operated statewide with libraries serving as nearly 100 of those sites.
The First New York Library to Offer Summer Meals
Stephentown Memorial Library was one of the first libraries to offer summer meals in New York, launching the program in their rural area of roughly 2,700 residents in 2011. Laurenne Teachout, who was the Library Director at this time, worked with the Library Board, the Friends of the Library, and the Stephentown Food Pantry to kick off the library’s participation. “Initially I saw an announcement about the summer meals program and recognized that it would benefit our town,” Teachout stated.
“We were approved to participate and it went great! Kids and families loved it and the program was a success for us.”
In 2014, Teachout expanded the reach of the library’s summer meal program by offering meals to children and youth counselors participating in a day camp operated by the library. The federal reimbursement provided for the meals helped offset the costs of the camp itself, allowing the camp to be offered for free to kids living in Stephentown.
Kim Roppolo, who has been Library Director since 2017, highlights the importance of raising awareness of summer meals, “It’s just good to see kids knowing that they can have some food if they need it. I’m not sure how many people understand or know what is always available to them.”
Library Director Kim Roppolo (left) and former Library Director Laurenne Teachout (right)
The library launched free summer meals in their community of roughly 2,700 residents in 2011
Libraries serve as central hubs, meeting many different needs of their communities
How Libraries Can Curb Child Hunger with Summer Meals
Rural libraries are well-positioned to take advantage of a new way to offer summer meals called rural non-congregate. Traditionally, summer meals sites require kids to eat meals onsite, but this new option allows grab-and-go or home-delivered summer meals in rural areas. Multiple days worth of meals can be provided at one time, which can be helpful for families living in areas where transportation and the proximity to grocery stores can pose barriers to accessing food.
Libraries that aren’t well-suited to serve meals at their locations have found other ways to support the program, such as partnering with existing summer meal sites to offer reading activities or spreading the word about summer meal sites to families in their communities.
Another opportunity for outreach lies in spreading the word about a new federal summer nutrition program, Summer EBT, where families receive food benefits for each eligible child on an electronic benefit card. Summer EBT benefits can be used just like SNAP benefits to buy food at grocery stores, farmers markets, and other authorized retailers. Summer EBT—combined with summer meal sites operating throughout the state—alleviates child food insecurity by ensuring kids are well-fed all summer long and ready to learn when they return to school in the fall.
For libraries considering participating in summer meals, Roppolo shared the following:
“It’s absolutely worth it. We’re feeding children, but it also draws people to the library and it shows we’re not just books and DVDs anymore. We’re here to give information, to give knowledge, to feed you, to help you in whatever way we can.”
As partners and providers of summer meals, libraries continue to develop ways to meet the evolving needs of their patrons and bridge gaps in access to critical resources. We applaud the leadership of librarians across New York, who have led the way in increasing access to summer meals and other programs that mitigate hunger.
We can help
Hunger Solutions New York helps libraries connect their patrons with vital nutrition programs. We offer resources for and assistance with programs that address food insecurity like SNAP, WIC, and summer nutrition programs. To learn more, contact Cody.Bloomfield@HungerSolutionsNY.org
