CRT announces summer food program

HARTFORD — The Community Renewal Team will once again administer a free Summer Food Service Program for children 18 and under living in both Hartford and Middlesex Counties. This important program provides free breakfast and/or lunches to students during the critical summer months when school is out.

“When school is out for the summer, children really need access to healthy, tasty breakfasts and lunches to supplement their daily nutritional needs,” wrote Gariann Chiarella, Director of Nutrition for CRT, in a statement. “We are proud to once again be a part of this vital program that helps to prevent childhood hunger here in Central Connecticut. CRT has been a part of this annual program for over the past 20 years.”

To qualify for free or reducedprice lunches, a child’s family must earn less than 185 percent of what the federal government has determined is the poverty threshold. In 2016, for a single mother that was less than $30,000 for reduced-price meals or about $21,000 for free meals.

For the program that CRT will administer this summer, more than 1,300 breakfasts per day will be served, and more than 1,900 lunches per day will be served.

CRT’s Summer Food Service Program will be offered in the following cities and towns: East Hartford, Enfield, Farmington, Glastonbury, Hartford, Middletown, Portland, and Windsor Locks.

Refer to the “Free Summer Food” page on CRT’s website (www.crtct.org) for a complete list of locations where summer meals for children 18 years and under will be served free of charge.

People interested in receiving more information about participation in the free Summer Food Service Program for children should contact: Community Renewal Team, 555 Windsor Street, Hartford, CT 06120, at 860-560-5634.