HOUSTON, TEXAS – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue lauded the achievement of its Meals to You partnership, which has now delivered more than 28.5 million meals to the doorsteps of low-income kids in rural communities across America during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Background
Meals to You is an innovative public-private partnership between USDA, the Baylor University Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, McLane Global, and PepsiCo. It began as a summer pilot project in 2019 but has been successfully leveraged as emergency Meals to You to address pandemic-related nutrition needs in rural areas.
Initially, Meals to You aimed to serve 1 million meals to children in rural areas. Due to unprecedented need, high requests to participate, and the commitment of USDA and its partners, the initiative rapidly expanded. As of July 11, 2020, 28,565,460 meals have been delivered to 268,277 children across the U.S.
Meals to You boxes are delivered directly to children’s homes via the U.S. Postal Service or another delivery service. Each box contains 20 nutritious, shelf-stable meals including 10 breakfasts and 10 lunches/suppers. In participating states, families with students who attend an eligible school or are eligible for free or reduced-price meals may opt-in to receive one box per child every two weeks.
Meals to You is just one of a broad range of actions USDA has taken to ensure children are fed during the COVID-19 health crisis. FNS has issued more than 35 nationwide waivers in its child nutrition programs to make it as easy as possible for children to continue to receive meals during the pandemic. USDA also recently announced several nationwide waivers that extend throughout the entire 2020-2021 school year to allow states and program operators to plan for the fall and beyond. To learn more about FNS’s response to COVID-19, visit www.fns.usda.gov/coronavirus and follow us on Twitter at @USDANutrition.