Forsyth County Library offers free summer snacks for kids, teens
Cumming Library is handing out free snacks for children and teens through July 15, helping Forsyth families cover the summer meal gap when school cafeterias close.
Children and teens can pick up free summer snacks at Cumming Library through July 15, giving Forsyth families one more way to stretch household budgets after the school year ends. The service runs at no cost from June 1 through July 15, a short window built around the long gap between the end of school and the return of cafeteria meals.
The library has teamed with the Forsyth County Schools Food and Nutrition Department, Georgia Department of Education School Nutrition and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make the snacks available to young people 18 and younger. Georgia’s Happy Helpings summer meal program is federally funded by USDA and administered by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, and state officials say libraries are among the places that can host summer meal service.
The need is not abstract in Forsyth County. About 15% of students in the county qualify for free and reduced lunch, and U.S. News puts the share in Forsyth County Public Schools at 15.5%. Forsyth County Schools says the district has 42 schools, including 23 elementary schools, 11 middle schools and 8 high schools, plus 7 support facilities, a reminder of how large the local school system is that helps frame this effort.
The snack program also connects food access to learning. The library says hungry children have a harder time concentrating, joining enrichment activities and getting the full benefit of summer reading, library programming and family visits. By putting food service alongside youth programs, the library is treating summer nutrition as part of education, not as a separate issue.
For families, the Cumming Library stop can shave off one daily expense while giving children another reason to visit a public building that already serves as a summer gathering place. The broader USDA Summer Food Service Program offers free meals and snacks for children 18 and under at schools, parks and other neighborhood locations with no application required, and USDA’s Summer Meals Site Finder helps families locate nearby sites, hours and contact information.
In a county that keeps growing, the snack table at Cumming Library shows how a small public-service program can carry outsized weight. It links local schools, the library system and federal nutrition dollars at a time when many families feel the summer gap most sharply.
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