New Haven Food Truck

United Way of Greater New Haven and New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) unveiled Connecticut's first Summer Food Truck that will deliver free, nutritious meals to kids throughout the city.  The Summer Food Truck, which is made possible by a grant from United Way, will allow NHPS's Central Kitchen to provide two free meals per weekday – 1,000 free meals a day – to children living in under-served neighborhoods throughout New Haven.  Federal funds will pay for the program. 

NHPS and United Way are partners in the Connecticut No Kid Hungry Campaign, an initiative led by End Hunger Connecticut!, Governor Malloy, and Share Our Strength, to end childhood hunger in Connecticut by 2015.  This is the first food truck to serve summer meals to children and youth in Connecticut.  

View Video of Food Truck Launch.

Media Coverage and Photos of The Food Truck:

• New Haven Register article and video

• NBC CT
• Fox CT
• New Haven Public Schools
• WTNH CT Style Show - 10/16/11
• Yale Daily News article - 8/31/11
• Star 99.9 FM Radio - 9/9/11

The Need:

• In households with children, almost 1 in 5 or 18.7% struggle to put food on the table, which means that more than 127,000 Connecticut children are considered food insecure1.
• In New Haven, more than 75% of the students qualified for free and reduced price school meals in 2010.
• Of students enrolled in school meals programs, only one in four received meals last summer through the federally-funded Summer Food Service Program.
• Kids and teens do not stop needing healthy meals when school is out. In fact, summer can be one of the toughest times for families relying on school food programs to help them make ends meet.
• Good nutrition is an essential building block for healthy growth and development and educational success. Often times, the biggest barrier for kids and teens to participate in the free summer meals program is simply not being able to get there. 

The Solution: 

• There are currently 37 Summer Food sites in New Haven that serve breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday until mid-August.
• The Food Truck will deliver free lunch and dinner to kids 18 and under to three locations Monday through Friday until school starts.

If you have any questions regarding the Food Truck times, location or eligibility, please contact Tim Cipriano at NHPS Central Kitchen (203) 946-8813 x11 or via email at timothy.cipriano@new-haven.k12.ct.us 

For questions about the partnership, please contact Kathy Hart-Jones at (203) 691-4202 or via email at khartjones@uwgnh.org

Food Truck wrapped by Sign-A-Rama in Orange, CT.