II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3292 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch to establish a 

weekend and holiday feeding program to provide nutritious food to atrisk school children on weekends and during extended school holidays 

during the school year. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 29, 2010 

Mr. SPECTER (for himself and Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 

and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 

to establish a weekend and holiday feeding program to 

provide nutritious food to at-risk school children on weekends and during extended school holidays during the 

school year. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Weekends Without 

5 Hunger Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. WEEKENDS AND HOLIDAYS WITHOUT HUNGER. 

2 Section 18 of the Richard B. Russell National School 

3 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769) is amended by adding at the 

4 end the following: 

5 ‘‘(j) WEEKENDS AND HOLIDAYS WITHOUT HUN6 GER.— 

7 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

8 ‘‘(A) AT-RISK SCHOOL CHILD.—The term 

9 ‘at-risk school child’ has the meaning given the 

10 term in section 17(r)(1). 

11 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible 

13 institution’ means a public or private non14 profit institution that is determined by the 

15 Secretary to be able to meet safe food stor16 age, handling, and delivery standards es17 tablished by the Secretary. 

18 ‘‘(ii) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘eligible 

19 institution’ includes— 

20 ‘‘(I) an elementary or secondary 

21 school or school food service authority; 

22 ‘‘(II) a food bank or food pantry; 

23 ‘‘(III) a homeless shelter; and 

24 ‘‘(IV) such other type of emer25 gency feeding agency as is approved 

26 by the Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall 

2 carry out a pilot program under which the Secretary 

3 shall provide commodities to eligible institutions to 

4 carry out projects to provide nutritious food to at5 risk school children on weekends and during ex6 tended school holidays during the school year. 

7 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBILITY.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re9 ceive commodities under this subsection, an eli10 gible institution shall submit an application to 

11 the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 

12 and containing such information as the Sec13 retary may determine. 

14 ‘‘(B) PLAN.—An application under sub15 paragraph (A) shall include the plan of the eli16 gible institution for the distribution of nutri17 tious foods to at-risk school children, includ18 ing— 

19 ‘‘(i) methods of food service delivery 

20 to at-risk school children; 

21 ‘‘(ii) assurances that children receiv22 ing foods under the project will not be pub23 licly separated or overtly identified; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) lists of the types of food to be 

2 provided under the project and provisions 

3 to ensure food quality and safety; 

4 ‘‘(iv) information on the number of 

5 at-risk school children to be served and the 

6 per-child cost of providing the children 

7 with food; and 

8 ‘‘(v) such other information as the 

9 Secretary determines to be necessary to as10 sist the Secretary in evaluating projects 

11 that receive commodities under this sub12 section. 

13 ‘‘(4) PRIORITY.—In selecting applications under 

14 this subsection, the Secretary shall give priority to 

15 eligible institutions that— 

16 ‘‘(A) have on-going programs and experi17 ence serving populations with significant pro18 portions of at-risk school children; 

19 ‘‘(B) have a good record of experience in 

20 food delivery and food safety systems; 

21 ‘‘(C) maintain high quality control, ac22 countability, and recordkeeping standards; 

23 ‘‘(D) provide children with readily 

24 consumable food of high nutrient content and 

25 quality; 


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1 ‘‘(E) demonstrate cost efficiencies and the 

2 potential for obtaining supplemental funding 

3 from non-Federal sources to carry out projects; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(F) demonstrate the ability to continue 

6 projects for the full approved term of the pilot 

7 project period. 

8 ‘‘(5) GUIDELINES.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

10 issue guidelines containing the criteria for 

11 projects to receive commodities under this sec12 tion. 

13 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The guidelines shall, 

14 to the maximum extent practicable within the 

15 funds available and applications submitted, take 

16 into account— 

17 ‘‘(i) geographical variations in project 

18 locations to include qualifying projects in 

19 rural, urban, and suburban areas with high 

20 proportions of families with at-risk school 

21 children; 

22 ‘‘(ii) different types of projects that 

23 offer nutritious foods on weekends and 

24 during school holidays to at-risk school 

25 children; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) institutional capacity to collect, 

2 maintain, and provide statistically valid in3 formation necessary for the Secretary— 

4 ‘‘(I) to analyze and evaluate the 

5 results of the pilot project; and 

6 ‘‘(II) to make recommendations 

7 to Congress. 

8 ‘‘(6) EVALUATION.— 

9 ‘‘(A) INTERIM EVALUATION.—Not later 

10 than November 30, 2013, the Secretary shall 

11 complete an interim evaluation of the pilot pro12 gram carried out under this subsection. 

13 ‘‘(B) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than De14 cember 31, 2015, the Secretary shall submit to 

15 Congress a final report that contains— 

16 ‘‘(i) an evaluation of the pilot pro17 gram carried out under this subsection; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(ii) any recommendations of the Sec20 retary for legislative action. 

21 ‘‘(7) FUNDING.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each of fiscal 

23 years 2011 through 2015, the Secretary shall 

24 use such sums as are necessary, but not less 

25 than $10,000,000 of funds appropriated under 


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1 section 3, to purchase commodities to carry out 

2 this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds 

4 made available under subparagraph (A) shall 

5 remain available— 

6 ‘‘(i) until expended; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) if the Secretary determines that 

8 unspent funds cannot be fully used for ap9 proved pilot projects, until September 30, 

10 2015. 

11 ‘‘(C) FUNDING.—Not more than 3 percent 

12 of the funds made available under subpara13 graph (A) may be used by the Secretary for ex14 penses associated with review of the operations 

15 and evaluation of the projects carried out under 

16 this subsection.’’. 

Æ 


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