Tyson Foods’ summer meal pilot reveals the scale of America’s food-access gap for children

Tim Grailer has led Community and Social Impact for Tyson Foods since 2021, expanding the company’s national programs and partnerships that address food insecurity and workforce readiness. He serves on the board of directors of the Military Family Advisory Network and Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance.

For many kids, the last bell of the school year sounds like freedom. But for millions of others, it signals the end of a reliable meal. More than 21 million children qualify for free and reduced-price school lunches. During summer, that number drops to 3.2 million. The children left behind have not stopped being hungry, but the system that feeds them was built around a school calendar that runs out in June.

A child’s need to eat does not expire, and the stakes reach past the meal on the tray. Food is a precondition for everything else we want for children: the ability to learn and thrive academically, relief for families who should not have to choose between groceries and rent and the chance for young people to stay on track toward graduation and work. When there is nearly an 18 million gap in childhood access for three months a year, we’re spending down our collective future, one skipped lunch at a time.

The data points to a challenge that extends beyond any one company or industry.

Tyson Foods partnered with GENYOUth to support summer meal programs operated by schools in Georgia and Arkansas to better understand and address the barriers schools face in reaching children during the summer. We made a $150,000 investment to help fill key gaps. But more than 60 districts applied, requesting about $600,000, roughly four times the available funding. What we learned........

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