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By Paul Bean
An initiative to feed Vermont families has been getting attention online as the state continues to provide free meals to all families throughout the summer without financial qualifications.
Launched under Act 64, Vermont’s permanent ‘Universal Free Meals Law’ enacted in 2022, has been extended throughout the summer.
On the Social Media app Tik Tok, a Vermont woman highlighted the program’s accessibility. “Did you know all Vermont families can get free meals this summer, no questions asked?” While showing the food she had received from her local meal center, including Cabot cheese, milk, sun chips, teddy grams, and more…”It’s amazing how easy it is to feed my kids for free all summer long,” she added.
The program, which extends beyond the school year through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Seamless Summer Option (SSO), is federally funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and administered by the Vermont Agency of Education.
“The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) provides free meals to children in low-income areas through eligible organizations, primarily in the summer months when most schools are closed for instruction,” says the USDA website. “In fiscal year (FY) 2023, the program served a total of 136 million meals at a cost of about $547 million. In July 2023, the month when SFSP operations typically peak, the program provided meals to 2.2 million children each day across more than 35,000 sites.”
“At summer meal sites, all children 0-18 eat for free–no paperwork, no registration, no I.D. needed! We help communities establish and grow their summer meal programs through individualized support and outreach,” says the website of Hunger Free Vermont, a non-profit working to end hunger in Vermont.
“Summer meal sites provide meals to all children, 18 and under,” said Toren Ballard, Director of Policy and Communications Vermont Agency of Education, by email to VDC. “In addition to children 18 and under, persons over 18 years of age who are determined by a State educational agency or a local public educational agency to be mentally or physically disabled and who participate in a public or nonprofit private school program established for the mentally or physically disabled are also eligible to receive summer meals.”
Act 64’s appropriation for Universal School Meals was $29 million (FY 2024). The pricetag is adjusted annually for inflation. It is unclear how much Vermont is spending on the summer meals share of the Universal School Meals program. Act 64 says the state and the federal government have to together to pay for it. The federal government gives some money, and Vermont pays the rest to make sure all meals are free. Last year, about 80,000 kids were eligible for the program.
Act 64 also mandates that public schools offer free meals year-round, with state funding covering the difference between paid and free reimbursement rates. This summer, the state boosted funding by 10% to address inflation.
“Proud to be a Vermont State Senator who has voted repeatedly to support the program,” writes State Senator Becca White (D.Windham Co.) in response to the post on Tik Tok.
“I live in a very affluent district, in a very affluent town…it’s not income based, you just sign up. And there’s this stigma, ‘oh I don’t want to take it from people who need it more…’ This isn’t poor people who only need it. This is because you have a child, under the age of 18.” explains one mom on a Tik Tok Video. “Like when does that happen? Go make use of this. Absolutely free.”
According to the Vermont Agency of Education, over 80,000 children benefited from summer meals in 2024—a 15% increase from the previous year. Hunger Free Vermont, a nonprofit advocating for food security, reports that regular meal access during the summer reduced learning loss, with a 20% improvement in fall test scores for participating children in 2023.
One mom shows off her haul for her five children.
Meal sites range from schools to community centers and are reimbursed sponsors based on the number of eligible meals served, with rural and self-operated sites receiving higher rates to address logistical challenges.
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Categories: State Government
People who complain about feeding children should perhaps rethink their reactions. If a few parents who could afford to feed their kids get free meals for those kids, that is on their karma. I prefer allowing for a possible abuse of the program, by a few folks, to the alternative, which is letting kids go hungry. Which has been the case for too many children prior to this program. Last time I looked, Jesus reportedly said, “Feed my lambs,” not “feed only the lambs whose parents you approve of.” PS to the editor: you proofreader slipped: it’s “Teddy Grahams,” as in “graham cracker,” not “grams.” And it’s so important to have good product placement in your work: Cabot cheese, wow! And those hippie-dippie SunChips ( not “sun chips”). Guess you all think kids deserve only Velveeta and hardtack. Or maybe you’d prefer that they just eat dirt.
Re: “I prefer allowing for a possible abuse of the program, by a few folks, to the alternative, which is letting kids go hungry.”
This is called an Armageddon Response. If the public school doesn’t provide free food, we will be ‘letting kids will go hungry’.
First: Why does anyone think our public schools can efficiently distribute food in the first place, … especially given that it can only manage to educate half of them as it is?
What about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, that helps low-income individuals and families purchase food. Eligible participants receive benefits on an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card, which can be used at authorized grocery stores and markets.
What about the Food Bank? What about No Kid Hungry? There are many other local charities too. Churches, free Farmers Market Programs and Community Gardens, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
And what about the parents? What incentive do they have to learn to fish when the fish is always given to them?
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.” ― T.S. Eliot
Gina, not sure where to start. I guess first, there is no such thing as karma…only reaping and sowing. Jesus’ words to Peter “feed my lambs” had to do with teaching, equipping and yes physical care of bringing up someone into the belief of and relationship with Jesus the Christ. The ONE who came to restore us to a proper relationship with G-D His Father…we can’t pick and choose only the platitudes that we like and chuck the others. As to Sun Chips, fried in seed oil; the major contributor to the rise in obesity and diabetes and a host of other human ailments… in which they might be better off eating dirt were it not for the aluminum particulates and G-D knows what else the geo-engineers are spraying into the atmosphere that ends up in our soils. They can skip the Velveeta and Cabot ain’t what it was once cracked up to be either. All that to say I totally understand why some work cash under the table so as not to support a massively flawed, unfair and unequal system of taxation that helps some and punishes others, Final thought, if you don’t work, you shall not eat!
The point is to make sure that poor kids get food, what is wrong with that?Do you think the kids should suffer because their parents didn’t make it financially?
This is ridiculous! I’m not talking about kids that need food because their family is unable to provide adequate nutrition. First of all I have not been in favor of free meals for ALL kids during school, and for several reasons. Many of those kids do not want that food, and bring their own food anyway. I have witnessed some of the food waste in school cafeterias. Sadly, the school is not allowed to give to homeless. Unless something has changed, which I doubt.
Secondly, who decided to feed all kids all summer? Did I miss something? I’m on a fixed income, and pay taxes. I have to shop very carefully. I try to purchase what is on sale, but also good food. I apologize if I am insulting anyone.
Gina Logan, respectfully, I don’t think that people who disagree with this are necessarily complaining about people feeding children. What people are complaining about is the fact that taxpayers are footing the bill for people who can well afford to pay their own way to feed their own children by taking advantage of a program that is more prevalent in socialist/communist countries. When Jesus commands Peter to “feed my lambs” He was asking Peter to assume a pastoral responsibility, not to put literal food in someone’s mouth.
This article isn’t heartwarming….it’s disturbing. It showcases mission creep in its purest form. Public schools were created to educate, not to become all-in-one feeding centers or mental health hub.
Let’s be honest: “families with children” are now a protected special interest group, and this no-questions-asked meals program, extended year-round with no means testing, is a glaring example of resource misallocation. If you can’t feed your own children, that’s not a state responsibility, it’s a parental failure, and in extreme cases, it’s child neglect. Where’s DCF in that conversation?
Meanwhile, thousands of working childless adults and the elderly on fixed incomes are getting crushed under skyrocketing property taxes, housing costs, and inflation. Who’s feeding them?
We’re told this is “universal” to remove stigma, but the truth is, it removes accountability. If you can afford to feed your children and still take the free meals, you’re not fighting stigma, you’re freeloading on the backs of taxpayers.
And the biggest question of all: how is this sustainable when Vermont can’t even afford to keep roads paved or teachers paid without bond votes and tax hikes? We’ve gone from a safety net to a state-sponsored buffet, and at some point, the bill comes due
There were/are programs in place to help low income families feed their children. The extra $29 million property taxpayers are footing the bill for go toward helping wealthy households, like this woman’s. But don’t worry about it. You can afford your property taxes, right?
This program is federally funded and state funded. None of this is free. Federal taxes and state taxes pay for it. We all pay for it. We’re all feeding your kids. Everyone gets fed so that theres no stigma attached to feeding the poor. Just like no more food stamps, put it on a card that looks like a credit card so the recipients can payfor it without embarrassment
Act 64, Gov. SCOTT allowed it to pass without his signature. There were only 4 sponsors of the bill! What were you thinking govenor? You were ellected to be a little more selective in the bills you let get through.
I think the woman in the video might be the former Mrs. Vermont 2015. They have the same first name, Dorilee, and look the same. See the picture of Mrs. Vermont 2015 named Dorilee here: https://x.com/VTStateParks/status/621386565009448961
Even the affluent could use a little assistance from the government, am I right? Her taxes, along with everyone else’s taxes, are high because government confiscates our money to fund these kinds of programs, then hires government employees to administer the program, which increases the costs by making government a “middleman.” And much of this garbage being distrubited is processed food also subsized by the government (Government pays farmers to grow GMO monocrops). It is not nutrient-dense. We can thank our pathetic tax-payer funded public education system for the lack of knowledge of basic economics: nothing is free! These types of programs should be run locally so that those who truly need assistance are receiving it. I have no pity for a woman who lives in an affluent neighborhood who is ashamed of the dirt on her husband’s Carhartts and is teaching her children to live off of the government dole. This universal meals program is about creating government dependency, it is not about assisting the needy. Vermont has many local food producers and their products are three times as expensive as imports from California. Why? We should be supporting local agriculture, not putting 50% of our land into conservation.
Am I paying for this? I am 77 years old, they are not my kids, I was responsible and paid for mine when they lived with us. This is
Vermont, we used to be independent and did not rely on others to pay our way, we paid our own. We sacrificed, we did not make others sacrifice for us.
The free food for kids eases the parent’s burden of having to trade EBT at 50 cents on the dollar for cash to buy cigarettes.
I would never feed my kids that packaged “stuff” and Yippee my tax money is paying for that weird red big chain necklace.