USDA and Community Action Partnership of Strafford County Partner to Offer Rochester Children Free Lunch This Summer

School is out, and children have a new location in Rochester to find free lunch this summer. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Community Action Partnership of Strafford County (CAP) have partnered to begin offering free lunch at Salmon Falls Estates, a USDA-supported apartment complex in Rochester, from June 23 through August 21^st.  USDA officials were at Salmon Falls Estates Tuesday to help kick off the new service.

“Every hungry child across the State of New Hampshire should have access to a summer meal site,” said USDA Rural Development State Director Ted Brady. “This year, every arm of USDA is working to bring summer meal sites closer to rural children and ensure they have access to healthy food throughout the summer.”

The new site at Salmon Falls Estates is one of 163 USDA Summer Food Service Program sites across New Hampshire.  At some of these sites children up to the age of 18 can access a free meal regardless of income and with no registration.  The program helps provide nutritious meals to children who participate in the agency’s free and reduced-price lunch program during the school year. The program is administered locally by the New Hampshire Department of Education, which depends on local sponsors to use the program to deliver meals to children across the state.

Community Action Partnership of Strafford County will serve meals at various sites in Dover, Rochester and Somersworth this summer. There are no income requirements or registration, and any child under age 18 may come to eat. For a full listing of summer meal sites in Strafford County, please visit http://www.straffordcap.org/programs/food-a-nutrition.

Salmon Falls Estates is one of 88 multi-family rental apartment complexes built and maintained with support from USDA Rural Development’s Multi-Family 515 Program across New Hampshire.  The program provides low-cost financing to build affordable multi-family projects in rural areas and provides rental assistance to low-income residents. More than 2,100 New Hampshire families live in USDA rental properties.

Salmon Falls Estates is the first USDA multi-family apartment complex in New Hampshire to participate in the Summer Food Service Program.  The company that manages Salmon Falls Estates, Preservation Management, opted to participate after USDA Rural Development staff encouraged managers from across the state to consider the benefits of offering the program at their sites.  Since then, Preservation Management has enrolled an additional site in Somersworth, NH in the program for this summer. 

USDA, through its RD mission area, administers and manages housing, business and community infrastructure programs through a national network of state and local offices. Rural Development has an active portfolio of more than $210 billion in loans and loan guarantees. These programs are designed to improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers and ranchers and improve the quality of life in rural areas. For more information on Rural Development visit rd.usda.gov/nh or call (603) 223-6035.