Bus Stop Cafe

The Problem: What happens to kids who depend on school meals during the summer months? Those children are at risk of losing 10 meals each week.

The Solution: RIFA renovated a school bus into a mobile feeding unit to deliver summer meals at no cost to the kids 18 and under within the most vulnerable areas of Jackson.

The summer months bring the risk of even higher food insecurity. Because the children are not in school, they are not able to benefit from the guaranteed breakfast and lunch that the school provides. In the Summer Nutrition Program Social Impact Analysis, the authors estimate that 80% of children experience limited access to food programs during the summer. For families that depend on the federal school lunch program, the summer months put those children at risk of losing ten meals each week that are consistently served throughout the school year. The RIFA Bus Stop Cafe will help alleviate the stress for parents who are trying diligently to provide food for their children during the summer by ensuring access to healthy meals on a daily basis.

By providing lunch to 185 children each weekday for eight weeks during the summer, 7,500 meals will be served on this bus. Those meals mean nutritional building blocks needed to learn and grow.

In addition, the Bus Stop Cafe will be a continuation of the Snack Backpack program because we will be providing a snack backpack to each child on Friday so they will have food on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Bus Stop Cafe will set up in strategic points throughout the city that have been identified as heavily populated with children who are at risk of food insecurity. We are worked with the JMCSS to determine where the highest need areas are and provide an opportunity for the children to receive a meal from the bus within walking distance of their home. The bus will move throughout Jackson into low-income neighborhoods including Lincoln Courts, Hartland Place Aparments, Rolling Acres Mobile Estates and Allenton Heights.

The Bus Stop Cafe will make stops Monday-Friday at the following locations starting Monday, June 3 through Friday, July 26.

10:30-11:00am – Allenton Heights

11:15am-12:00pm – Lincoln Courts

12:15-12:45pm – Harltand Place Apartments

1:00-1:45pm – Rolling Acres Mobile Estates

The Bus Stop Cafe represents what will be a community effort to ensure that our children are well-fed throughout the summer, which lessens the impact of summer learning loss, keeps the children healthier, and alleviates some of the financial strain for families who struggle to keep food on the table during the summer.

Thank you to the bus sponsors —Toyota Bodine, MOST, Robinson Toyota, The Foundation and Fellowship Bible Church!

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