Page 16 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2023 Kids 18 and younger eat free all summer long Summer Eats Awareness Week is July 10–14 T he Summer Eats program is in full swing across Massachusetts, providing free meals to children and teens 18 years old and younger at hundreds of meal sites statewide. In July 2022 alone, over 2.3 million meals were served across almost 1,500 sites in Massachusetts through the Summer Eats program. Summer Eats is an especially critical resource this summer. Throughout the school year, children in Massachusetts rely on free school meals to meet most of their daily nutrition needs, and Summer Eats serves to close the gap when the school year ends. As of May 2023, one in four Massachusetts households with children are experiencing food insecurity. This is nearly double the pre-pandemic numbers, and many families are still struggling to aff ord enough food more than three years after the pandemic fi rst hit. Summer Eats assists families by providing free meals to children and teens to ensure they continue growing, learning and thriving over summer break. Participating meal providers operate and staff meal sites, often in conjunction with activities and educational programming. All are welcome. No registration or ID is required. “Hunger doesn’t disappear in the summer,” says Project Bread CEO Erin McAleer. “The same students who count on universal free school meals for more than half their daily nutrition are at risk for summer hunger and learning loss when school is on break and those meals are unavailable. Meal providers and staff bring the community together and take some of the pressure off of families’ grocery budgets, going above and beyond to make healthy meals easy to access for all kids and teens.” Families previously eligible to receive Pandemic-Electronic Benefi t Transfer (P-EBT) during the 2022-2023 school year will qualify to continue to receive this benefi t ($120 per child per family) over the summer. P-EBT is a federal child nutrition program created during the COVID-19 public health emergency to promote increased food security for students who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and who missed school due to COVID-19. To see who qualifi es, visit: Mass.gov. For more than 20 years, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and statewide anti-hunger nonprofi t Project Bread have partnered to support meal providers in offering Summer Eats meals to children in Massachusetts. This year summer meal sites are operating a communal model of feeding kids on-site. Project Bread and DESE have helped meal EATS | SEE Page 21 CityofRevere scan for eligible items DPWHOUSEHOLD CLEANUPDAY How to Locate Interesting Volunteer Opportunities in Your Area Dear Savvy Senior, Can you recommend some good organizations or websites for locating interesting volunteer opportunities? I’ve been doing some volunteer work since I retired last year, but most of the jobs I’ve tried haven’t been very fun or satisfying. Retired Volunteer Dear Retired, For many retirees, fi nding a volunteer opportunity that meets your interests, utilizes your talents and fi ts your availability can be challenging. To help you fi nd some interesting and satisfying volunteer opportunities, here are some tips and online tools that can help you search. Getting Started Volunteering is a great way for retirees to make a positive contribution to their community and stay actively engaged, not to mention it’s good for your health too. But how can you find the right opportunity for you? Start by asking yourself some basic questions like: What types of organizations or activities are you interested in? What kind of skills can you off er a volunteer organization? How much time are you willing to give? What do you want to gain from your experience (for example, meet new people, learn new skills, help those in need, exposure to a particular issue)? Once you get a general idea of what you’d like to do, there are dozens of volunteer websites that can help you search for different opportunities in your area and virtually. Most sites work like search enMattresses ($35) Batteries (free) FREE shredding gines that let you choose an area of interest and type in your ZIP code or city and state. The sites will then give you a list of opportunities that you can check into. Depending on your interest and expertise, here are some top websites to help you get started. General volunteer sites: To Light bulbs (free) Household Cleaners and Pesticides (free) ....and more! Saturday, July8, 2023 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM | REVERE HIGH SCHOOL PARKING LOT 101 SCHOOL STREET, REVERE, MA Misc. Furniture ($5-$20) fi nd a wide variety of volunteer opportunities in your community that serve causes like children, animals, seniors, education, health, the arts and more check out sites like VolunteerMatch.org, Engage. PointsofLight.org, IdeaList.org and UnitedWay.org. Retired volunteer sites: If you’re interested in opportunities targeting older adults and retirees, some good options include AARP’s CreateTheGood.org, along with AmeriCorps Seniors (AmeriCorps.gov/serve/americorps-seniors), which matches retirees with community projects and organizations that need experienced volunteer help. AmeriCorps Seniors offers three diff erent programs: RSVP, which has a variety of volunteer activities with fl exible time commitments; the Senior Companion Program that brings together volunteers with homebound seniors who have diffi culty with day-to-day living tasks; and the Foster Grandparent Program that matchers volunteers with kids in the community that have exceptional needs. Niche volunteer sites: There are also a number of niche websites to help you look for specifi c types of volunteer opportunities in your area. For example, to fi nd natural and cultural volunteer opportunities in places like national and state parks, see Volunteer.gov. If you’re interested in emergency preparedness and disaster response volunteer services, try Ready.gov or RedCross.org. If you have a knack for construction or have an interest in learning about interior design, see Habitat.org. Or, if you’re interested in longer-term volunteer opportunities check out AmeriCorps.gov and PeaceCorps. gov/50plus, which off ers threemonth to two-year programs in the U.S and abroad. Professional volunteer sites: If you have expertise in areas like business planning and development, marketing, communications, fi nance, fundraising, web and graphic design, or writing and editing there are sites like Catchafi re.org and TaprootPlus. org that can link you to volunteer opportunities with nonprofi t organizations in need. Or you can help entrepreneurs and small business owners through the SCORE.org volunteer mentoring program. Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book. CASH OR CHECK ONLY! SENIOR DISCOUNTS
17 Publizr Home