June 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 58

Park Bench

PHOTOS
OTOS COURTESY
CO
OF BALTIMORE CITY RECREATION AND PARKS

Parks and Recreation Plays a
Huge Role in Community Meals

As a critical provider of summer and afterschool meals through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the National School
Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option (SSO), park and recreation agencies have stepped into a prominent role in their communities during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, working alongside local
schools and food banks to distribute meals to children who depend on schools and
A child holds up a meal
out-of-school time programs for their daily meals.
bag from BCRP.
The Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks (BCRP) in Maryland
didn't hesitate to jump into action to serve the community. While the country
was still in the early stages of understanding the impact of COVID-19, BCRP
opened all 42 of its recreation centers to serve grab-and-go meals seven days
a week to all kids under age 18 in the community. BCRP is core to a larger,
cross-agency youth meal distribution effort to help close the gap created when
Baltimore City Public Schools closed, suspending delivery of 90,000 daily meals
to students. Four city agencies and community partners propped up 77 recreation center, mobile meal and community meal sites - in addition to the 18
being operated by the school district - providing more than a half-million meals
to youth in the first month of the effort.
To share information about meal locations and times, the Mayor's Office of
Children & Family Success developed a website (bmorechildren.com/FreeMeals)
with meal locations broken out by geographic sections of the city. The guide includes the address of the meal program, meals offered (breakfast,
lunch, dinner), and the times and days of meal delivery.
" When we learned that schools would need to be closed, we knew
Community agencies
that
our youth and families would need help gaining access to meals
and partners opened 77
that students usually get through school, " says Mayor Bernard C.
community meal sites.
" Jack " Young. " Our teams jumped into action and are distributing
thousands of meals every day. Without coordinated and immediate
attention paid by our team, this would not have been possible. "
The city also developed an interactive map of meal sites (tinyurl.
com/tzank2o) for community members to explore meal sites
around the city. The mobile-friendly map allows users to zoom in
to find the nearest food distribution location.
In addition to their daily meal service, BCRP launched a virtual recreation center. The online center houses free video tutorials,
crafts, fitness challenges, games and activities to keep all Baltimore
City neighbors active during physical distancing.
Baltimore City is just one of the many park and recreation agencies stepping in to serve their communities during
COVID-19, highlighting the important way that parks save lives.
- Maureen Neumann, Program Manager at NRPA
Parks & Recreation

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June 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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