Summer Food Access Resources for Ohio Children and Families
Children’s Hunger Alliance, in conjunction with other statewide organizations, has created a set of summer food access resources for Ohio children and families.
One of the newer summer programs is Summer EBT/SUN Bucks, which provides eligible households with $120 per child to supplement summer food costs. While some families will automatically receive the benefit based on their participation in other government assistance programs, other eligible families may need to apply. More information on Summer EBT/SUN Bucks can be found on the second page of the Summer Food Resources flier or by visiting https://sebt.ohio.gov and https://ohiosummerebt.org/.
Libraries can order FREE hard copies of the fliers and one FREE 18x24” Summer Food Resources poster (which is the first page of the Summer Food Resources flier). Complete this form to request materials. Availability is on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Electronic versions and links to Summer Food Resource information, including a social media toolkit to promote summer food resources to families in your community, are available on the Children’s Hunger Alliance website.
In addition to sharing the summer food access resources, we can learn more and spread the word about the underlying conditions that make the nutrition programs so important for Ohio children and families. Map the Meal Gap, released annually by Feeding America, is the only study that provides local-level estimates of food insecurity and food costs for every county and congressional district in the United States.
Food insecurity occurs when a household cannot consistently access enough food due to a lack of money and other essential resources. According to the Map the Meal Gap Study 2025, statewide, the child food insecurity rate is 20.1%, which means that one of every 5 children ages 0-18 in Ohio is food insecure. Use the Mind the Meal Gap map to look up your county’s food insecurity statistics and learn more about food insecurity.
Explore additional food access resources and opportunities for libraries on the State Library website, the CSLP’s Libraries and Summer Food guide, and the No Kid Hungry Summer and Afterschool Meals in Libraries toolkit.
