By Jennifer Fernandez

School’s out for the summer. For many kids, the last bell signals the start of summer fun: vacationing at the beach, gallivanting about the neighborhood, attending summer camp, or playing even more pickup basketball games. Fun times, right?

Not for everyone.

The end of school can be problematic for students who rely on the free school-based meals for the majority of their nutrition. More than 900,000 North Carolina students receive free or reduced-cost meals through the National School Lunch Program. 

Those meals end when the school year ends.

As many as one in six children in North Carolina face food insecurity, according to state Health Secretary Dev Sangvai.

“Summer should be a time of fun and making memories, not experiencing hunger,” Gov. Josh Stein said at the 2025 NC Child Hunger Leaders Conference in February.

A young girl learns about fresh herbs at the Family Market in Greensboro. The market is provided by BackPack Beginnings, a nonprofit that gives out bags of food to children in need in Guilford County, Credit: Courtesy of BackPack Beginnings

There are several long-standing programs that can help families dealing with food insecurity — and a newer one, tailored especially for the summer. 

Families can check to see if they’re eligible for standard support programs. The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, provides food benefits to low-income families who meet eligibility requirements. Though Congress is pondering significant cuts to the program, most of those will not affect this summer. 

Some communities have special programs, such as BackPack Beginnings, a Guilford County nonprofit that packs bags full of food for children to take home over weekends and breaks during the school year. In the summer, the bags can be picked up at several community sites. The group serves more than 25,000 children every year.

“Hunger doesn’t go away in the summer,” said Parker White, founder and executive director of BackPack Beginnings. “We want to make sure we’re providing for basic needs year round, and not just when school is open.”

More information

You can find out if you are eligible and apply for benefits at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services website. 

Another program called WIC provides support for low-income women, infants and children up to age 5. Find contact information for your county or fill out a referral form through NCDHHS.

Not sure what’s available in your community? NC 211, through the United Way of North Carolina, provides information and referrals to a variety of services — including food programs — within your community. Visit the website or call 2-1-1 or 888-892-1162.

There are also programs, including food pantries and some summer-only meals sites, that are open to all children, regardless of family income. Here are some ways to keep food on the table this summer:

NC Summer Meals program

SUN Meals is a program administered by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Any child 18 and younger can receive free meals at more than 2,500 sites across the state. Meals are served at schools, faith-based facilities, camps, parks, libraries and community centers. Registration and ID are not required. 

For rural areas, where it may be difficult to get to a distribution site, a food pick up/delivery program called SUN Meals To-Go may be available.

More information:

Meals on site and meals to go are visible in this map.

SUN Bucks

This food assistance program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which debuted in 2024, is geared toward easing the financial burden of feeding children over the summer. Unlike SUN Meals, this program is limited to children who meet certain qualifications; generally they’re eligible for the federally funded free or reduced-price meals during the school year.

SUN Bucks gives eligible families with school-age children a one-time stipend of $120 per child to help pay for groceries while school is out. The money is on top of any other benefits the family receives.

Most children who have been approved for free or reduced-price meals at school automatically qualify for the SUN Bucks program, also known as Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer.

Restrictions on how SUN Bucks can be spent are the same as those for SNAP benefits: most grocery items, nonalcoholic drinks and seeds that produce food are allowed, but not prepared meals, food that’s already hot or non-food items.

In summer 2024, the program distributed about $130 million in food assistance to 1 million out of the state’s 2.4 million children, Stein said. 

More information: 

Search multiple benefits at once

Not sure if you qualify for a benefit? A free program called MyFriendBen will search more than a dozen benefits, tax credits and food programs in North Carolina to see if you are eligible. Find out how much you could receive and how to apply.

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Community food pantries

Many churches, ministry groups and community organizations offer food pantries where families can get canned goods — and sometimes even fresh produce or meat. One problem, White said, is that food donations often go down during the summer, but they are still needed.

These services often have few, if any, requirements. Some programs may ask families to register to determine how much food is needed, and sometimes thousands of families are able to benefit from these services.

For instance, in 2024, the Tri-Area Ministry Food Pantry in Wake Forest distributed more than 2 million pounds of food, which helped 66,583 people in Wake County. Each month, the group said, it provides more than 1,600 families with a grocery bag full of food, including dry goods such as cereal, rice and beans, and canned goods, as well as fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, milk, eggs and frozen meat.

In Charlotte, the Hope Street Food Pantry opened in 2018 — initially to serve families in the 28269 ZIP code. In 2024, the nonprofit added distribution sites at libraries across Mecklenburg County. The pantry provides nonperishable food items, meat and, when available, produce. Toiletries and diapers are also often available. In its first six years, food pantry leaders said they gave out the equivalent of 1.8 million meals and helped more than 200,000 people. 

Salvation Army locations across the state manage food pantries. They offer a three- to five-day supply of nonperishable food and dry pantry goods. Salvation Army food pantries also provide resources to help provide longer-term food support, along with information on other food banks. Some locations offer mobile food pantries or can deliver food to homes.

Urban Ministries of Durham operates a cafe that gives out three free meals daily to community members in need. Credit: Courtesy of Urban Ministries of Durham

Some larger communities, such as Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro and Raleigh, have an Urban Ministry group that provides free meals and/or a food pantry.

Urban Ministries of Durham’s Community Café, for example, dishes out three meals daily to anyone who is hungry. This year, the cafe served about 260,000 meals, according to Viki Baker, director of community engagement for Urban Ministries of Durham. 

At the food pantry, people can shop for canned vegetables and fruit, boxes of pasta and bags of rice. Sometimes, fresh food and other perishable items like eggs, vegetables and casseroles are available. 

Foods that are easy for children to use on their own — think peanut butter to make a sandwich or canned pasta with a pop-top lid — are popular with families, said Baker,  anything that can help them stretch their food supply.

About three years ago, Guilford County’s BackPack Beginnings opened a Family Market that provides food and other essentials for any family in need who has children 18 years old or younger in the household. The market adds seasonal items, too, from back-to-school supplies in July and August to more toys in November and December. The market serves 950 families every month.

It looks like a regular store, White said, and provides families the “dignity of choice.”

Additional resources 

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Jennifer Fernandez (children’s health) is a freelance writer and editor based in Greensboro who has won awards in Ohio and North Carolina for her writing on education issues. She’s also covered courts, government, crime and general assignment and spent more than a decade as an editor, including managing editor of the News & Record in Greensboro.