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No Kid Hungry Blog

Progress in Maryland

Posted by Anne Sheridan on Monday, February 14, 2011

Thousands more children in Maryland are surrounded by nutritious food where they live, learn and play, thanks to Share Our Strength and the Maryland Partnership to End Childhood Hunger.

Having just celebrated the second anniversary of the partnership in November with Governor Martin O’Malley, the first governor in America to commit to ending childhood hunger in his state, we are proud to report on successes across many programs:

• Summer meals: This past year, participation at summer meal sites throughout Maryland increased dramatically – the average daily attendance was 10 percent higher than in 2009. In August, participation soared by 45%. We are grateful to the Sodexo Foundation and The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation for their support of this program.

• Afterschool meals: Maryland is one of just thirteen states nationwide that offer the federal afterschool meal program, which provides a hot, nutritious supper to kids who otherwise might only receive breakfast and lunch at school. After just one year, Maryland now serves over 4,000 children of all ages each weekday through this program. Funding from the Sodexo Foundation made Share Our Strength’s work on this project possible. And, a grant from the Osprey Foundation enabled us to partner with the Baltimore City Public Schools to deliver produce grown by students to sites where culinary students prepare meals using the produce. Those meals are then brought to afterschool programs throughout the city.

• School breakfast: With seed funding from Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States the Maryland Partnership launched the First Class School Breakfast Initiative last fall. By the end of this school year, at least 42 schools in 6 counties plus Baltimore City will be operating some form of alternative breakfast. A grant from the Walmart Foundation will enable even more kids in Maryland to have access to nutritious breakfast at the beginning of their school day.

• Food Supplement Program (Food Stamps) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC): Over the last two years, the number of Maryland households with children 18 and under that are enrolled in the Food Supplement Program has increased by over 60 percent. The number of children participating in WIC increased 25 percent.

A data tool developed for Share Our Strength in partnership by CGI Group, Inc. allows us to easily track and report on eligibility and participation rates across all of these programs. This keeps everyone involved accountable for the outcomes we’ve promised to achieve.

Share Our Strength is honored to work with Governor O’Malley and the Maryland Governor’s Office for Children to ensure that no kid in Maryland is hungry. We’re excited to keep you posted on our progress as the Maryland Partnership enters its third year!

Want to get involved in the campaign? You can start by taking the No Kid Hungry Pledge.

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February 14, 2011 | 1 comment(s) | Tags: afterschool programs, food stamps, maryland, school breakfast, SNAP, Sodexo, state partnerships, summer meals, walmart