Hunger Free Vermont works to end the injustice of hunger and malnutrition for all Vermonters, working in concert with the state’s Farm to Plate movement to increase low-income Vermonters’ access to the vibrant local food system. The organization assists schools in establishing and expanding school breakfast and lunch programs, which provide a reliable source of nutrition for school aged children; helps community groups provide nutritious meals to low-income children in afterschool programming and during the summer months; and has evolved into one of the nation’s leading anti-hunger policy advocates. In the past year, Hunger Free Vermont has increased the number of schools offering free meals to all kids (a.k.a. Universal Free School Meals) to 65 schools total, and getting to the point where most of the schools that are eligible for the program are participating. For that reason, the child nutrition team is now focusing on utilization of additional child nutrition programs such as after school meals and summer programs. Currently HFVT is working in 90 schools to add additional meal progroms, for every school they go to they keep a grid of what the school could add and keep track of who is adding what additional program. This past year, HFVT has increased their programming geared towards adults, providing more trainings to service providers to help with 3SquaresVT (SNAP) utilization, especially for seniors. They developed a new type of outreach to seniors, working closley with the state’s Department for Children and Families to obtain information on all the seniors who are on Medicaid but not using the 3SquaresVT programs. All of these clients will get a letter this year letting them know of their eligibility and directing them to the senior helpline for easy sign up. Additionally, HFVT is working with pediatricians at University of Vermont Medical Center to integrate a food insecurity screening recently developed by Children’s Health Watch into their medical software. HFVT then helps those patients with a positive screen get food and other services through their local networks.

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Hunger Free Vermont

Hunger Free Vermont

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