These research findings show that participation in the School Breakfast Program is associated with significant improvements in academic functioning among low-income elementary school children. The researchers attribute the academic improvements to the effects of a morning meal and the longer term benefit of an improved dietary intake. The Summer Food Service Program provides meals to low-income children in the summer months and during vacation periods. Sponsoring sites include public or private nonprofit organizations such as schools, Boys Clubs, churches and YMCAs. Eligible sponsors of the Summer Food Program must be located in areas where the majority of children are low income and meals must meet specific nutritional requirements.
All meals are free to participating children regardless of household income.
Although the Summer Food Program has been available since 1968, Missouri did not administer it until 1993. Missouri had been one of six states nationally that refused to participate. In 1992 the Missouri Hunger Relief Act authorized the Missouri Department of Health to administer the program, and mandated poor school districts to participate. In Missouri, about 170 of the 536 public school districts offer a summer school program serving between 50,000 and 55,000 students each summer. Most of these programs offer three to four hours of classroom instruction a day for six weeks.