Summer just got a little brighter for Baldwin County children, thanks to a $10,000 grant from No Kid Hungry awarded to the district’s Summer Meals Program.
The grant, secured through the efforts of A’Keti Mayweather, will help cover vital program costs including outreach, staff support, transportation, and fresh food supplies ensuring that every child who needs a meal this summer gets one.
“We are passing out meals in our drive-thru program so that any child, ages 5 to 18 years old, can come out and get a seven-day meal kit,” said Mayweather. “Each box has breakfast and lunch for the entire week. It’s an incredible way to make sure no child goes hungry during the summer months.”
When school is out, many students lose access to regular, nutritious meals. The Summer Meals Program steps in to provide free weekly meal boxes to children and teens throughout Baldwin County, no questions asked.
No Kid Hungry, a campaign by the nonprofit Share Our Strength, supports school districts across the nation by providing funding and expert guidance through their Center for Best Practices. For Baldwin County, that support has already made a tangible difference.
“They were able to help us with things like getting fresh fruit, like blackberries, for the families and also provided t-shirts and signage to promote the program,” said Mayweather. “They even helped supplement staffing needs, which means we can serve more families more efficiently.”
The 2025 Summer Meals Program also reintroduced bus routes, which were paused last year. Now, with seven active routes, meal kits are delivered directly to neighborhoods throughout Baldwin County.
Thanks to this kind of strategic thinking, Baldwin’s nutrition team has collectively brought in over $600,000 in grants and sponsorships in recent years to support the county’s nutrition and farm-to-school programs.
The program officially launched the first week of June and will continue every Tuesday through July 15, with distribution sites, like Lakeview Academy, and bus routes throughout the community.
“We are so appreciative of our volunteers. They come out every year faithfully to help us distribute meals. We couldn’t do this without them,” said Mayweather.
For more information on the Summer Meals Program or to find a distribution site or route near you, visit the Baldwin County School Nutrition Program page at baldwincountyschoolsga. org. — Contributed