NEW ORLEANS – For the second year in a row, Sodexo’s Dining Services team at Tulane University is providing free and nutritious meals to children at six New Orleans community centers through Sodexo’s Feeding Our Future program. The program, which kicked off Monday, June 19, will provide 300 meals every weekday through Aug. 4 to children who are at risk of hunger during the summer months.
Each morning during the program, Sodexo’s Tulane Dining Services team will work with campus volunteer groups of six to eight people to prepare the meals for the day. Meal preparation consists of assembling and wrapping sandwiches and sorting fruit, cookies or chips, and water for each of the six locations. The meals will be delivered by Tulane Shuttles & Transportation to Behrman Recreation Center, St. Bernard Recreation Center, Lyons Recreation Center, Milne Recreation Center, Gernon Brown Recreation Center and Treme Recreation Center.
“This program is important to us because it has become a campus-wide initiative, which will only grow,” said Bill Hudlow, Sodexo operations director at Tulane University. “Tulane University and our suppliers have all engaged with us to help support this community project and we look forward to an even bigger commitment in the future.”
Last year, Sodexo’s Tulane Dining Services team led the launch of the Feeding Our Future program in New Orleans, in collaboration with the city of New Orleans Recreation Development Commission and Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation.
Reps said more than 23 percent of children in the greater New Orleans area are at risk of hunger; with 140,000 kids living in low-income households who are uncertain where their next meal will come from. Providing food at these community centers allows children who may not have access to summer camps and USDA meals to have a place to eat, reps said.
Sodexo created Feeding Our Future more than 20 years ago to help provide meals for children during the summertime. Initially founded as a small 12-week summer feeding program in three cities, it has expanded to 23 cities across the U.S. and nine locations in Canada, providing more than 6.4 million meals for children. The program has continued to expand, allowing more and more children access to free nutritious meals, reps said.
