FAQs

There are several ways to locate a meal site in your area as well as the days and times of operation for each site:

• text “Summer Meals” to 97779
• call 1.866.348.6479
• Search using the Nutrition Feature on Decal.ga.gov
• Download the FoodFinder App

Happy Helpings operates during summer break when school is not in session. It also may operate during unanticipated school closures.

All children 18 years of age or younger who come to an approved open site or to an eligible enrolled site may receive meals. At camps, only the children who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals may receive SFSP meals. Adults 19 years and older who are enrolled in school programs for persons with disabilities may also receive meals.

Free meals are available to any child in the community who is 18 years old and younger. Identification is not required to receive a meal.

There is no residential requirement to participate. If the child is 18 years old or younger, they are eligible for a free meal.

All Happy Helping Meals are required to meet the USDA’s nutritional requirements. Menus vary from site to site, but here are a few examples of the type of meals that may be available:

Breakfast menu:

• Individually wrapped sausage (or chicken biscuits, pancakes, waffles, bagels), apple and milk.

Lunch menu:

• Hot meals: hamburgers, chicken or BBQ sandwiches
• Cold meals: Turkey and cheese, peanut butter, ham and cheese, string cheese and yogurt
• Fresh vegetables cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, grape tomatoes
• Fresh fruit- apple bananas, strawberries, peaches, tangerines
• Milk

Meal Boxes:

• Pizza, corn dogs, fajitas casseroles, lettuce, broccoli, applies, banana, grapes, milk, pineapple, half gallon milk
• Educational materials and cooking directions are included in the meal box

A child care center can be a sponsor if they are a nonprofit organization. If the child care center participates in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, they must ensure they are serving a different population of children and maintain separate records.

Happy Helping Sponsors are required to:

• attend sponsor training
• locate eligible sites
• hire, train, and supervise staff
• arrange for meals to be prepared or delivered
• monitor your sites
• prepare claims for reimbursement

Bryan County Board of Commissioners

Family Connections manages the Happy Helping program for the Bryan County Board of Commissioners. They have a partnership with their local Sheriff’s office. Family Connections hired a staff to prepare and distribute meals to children. They use the jail facility to prepare the meals. This allows the organization to have local control over the quality of food and the distribution of meals.

Burke County Public Schools

Burke County is a large rural community that has population with high food insecurity and transportation issues. The program utilizes the school kitchen and nutrition staff to prepare meals.
Before COVID, the school system operated a mobile food program running 15 bus routes with between five and eight stops. The kids ate meals on the buses.

During COVID, the school system worked with the school’s transportation department to deliver meals to families at bus routes. They served breakfast, lunch and a snack. Offering multiple meals at one time helped to increase participation.

This summer, they plan to implement weekly meal boxes. The nutrition team will prepare and pack seven days of breakfast and seven days of lunch along with directions for how to prepare the food. Meal boxes will be delivered to families/children at their bus routes.

The SFSP Reimbursement Rate Document for 2021 is here.

Claims must be submitted within 30 days. Once the claim is received and verified, payments are normally issued within the week.

Identification is not required to receive a meal. The best way to ensure a child is within the age requirement is to ask the child his/her age.

There is no residential requirement to participate. If the child is 18 years old or younger, they are eligible for a free meal.

Children who live at extended stay hotels are eligible to participate in Happy Helpings if they are 18 years old or younger. We recommend identifying a meal site that is located near the extended stay hotel, so children/families do not have to travel far. A list of DECAL Meal Site locations are available here.

Vended meals are defined as pre-packed hot or cold meals prepared by a vendor/Food Service Management Company (FSMC). The meals arrive at the meal site complete with all required meal components.

A vendor may be a school system, restaurant or catering company that can manage capacity, meets health and safety requirements and is familiar with the USDA’s meal pattern requirements.
We recommend contacting the School Food Authority (SFA) in your local community to see if they can prepare meals for your organization. School districts are familiar with child nutrition programs and they have the capability to produce meals at a higher quantity with the required meal components.
If the SFA is not an option, DECAL Nutrition Services maintains a database of Food Service Management Companies who specialize in providing vended meals to our programs.

SaveServ certification is not required, but it is encouraged. Sponsors are required to follow all local health department requirements in your community. You are required to have a health permit from the county health department if you are prepping or manipulating food in any way.

Breakfast menu:
• Individually wrapped sausage (or chicken biscuits, pancakes, waffles, bagels), apple and milk.

Lunch menu:
• Hot meals: hamburgers, chicken or BBQ sandwiches
• Cold meals: Turkey and cheese, peanut butter, ham and cheese, string cheese and yogurt
• Fresh vegetables cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, grape tomatoes
• Fresh fruit- apple bananas, strawberries, peaches, tangerines
• Milk

Meal Boxes:
• Pizza, corn dogs, fajitas casseroles, lettuce, broccoli, applies, banana, grapes, milk, pineapple, half gallon milk
• Educational materials and cooking directions are included in the meal box

Yes, absolutely. We recommend it. Happy Helpings aligns well with the peak growing season, allowing sponsors to serve products in their freshest state. Regional producers benefit from a reliable outlet for the products during the summer months, and kids and teens get fresh, healthy meals to stay nourished when school is out. Buying GA Grown Produce.

• Open sites operate in low-income areas where at least 50 percent of children residing in the area are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals, based on local school or census data. The meals are served free to any child at the site on a first-come, first-serve basis.
• Closed enrolled sites are established for a specific group of children who enroll in an organized activity program or who do not reside in an eligible low-income area. The site becomes eligible for SFSP if at least half of the enrolled children qualify for free and reduced-price meals. Because the site is not open to the community, meals are served free only to enrolled children.
• Camps are sites that offer regularly scheduled food service along with organized activities for enrolled residential or day campers. The camp receives reimbursement only for meals served to enrolled children who qualify for free and reduced-price meals.
• Migrant sites primarily serve children of migrant workers. The site qualifies by providing appropriate certification from a migrant organization.
• NYSP College or university participating in the National Youth Sports Program. Children must be enrolled in NYSP to participate.

An organization that would like to serve as a meal site may contact any approved program sponsor. Contact information for sponsors can be located using the Nutrition Search feature on the DECAL web page.

The best place for a Happy Helping Meal Site is in location where children naturally gather in the summer (library, park, community pool; is easily accessible to children and familes, and is in an underserved area.
Click on this map to see counties with the greatest need for meal sites in Georgia.

Start by fostering relationships with organizations that serve children in your community. Family Connections is a great resource. They are a statewide network dedicated to the health and well-being of families and communities. They bring families and agencies together to develop local solutions.

The first step is to identify transportation options that will be the most financially viable in the operation of a mobile route. Do you need a large vehicle like a school bus? Are you able to rent or purchase a van? Can you develop a partnership with a local car dealership and use their vehicles?

If you have the option, contact the transportation director at your local school system. They can help you identify the routes where the kids live who are the most food insecure.

There must be a quarter mile or greater distance between meal sites. Sponsors are also required to note in the application how they will prevent an overlap of services.

We have identified nine counties without meal sites that have a child food insecurity rate of greater than 30 percent. These counties include Dooly, Hancock, Pulaski, Quitman, Screven, Stewart, Taliaferro, Telfair, and Turner. (Click here to see the child food insecurity rate in your county).

There are many ways to promote meal sites in the community. We recommend sending letters to community organizations, hanging posters or flyers and utilizing social media.

We’d like to have a SFSP meal site in every county, but we have identified five counties where there is a high need: These counties include Early, Stewart, Telfair, Treulten and Turner.

Organizations that can meet the eligibility requirements may request a viability screening from the Marketing & Outreach team by emailing sfsp@decal.ga.gov or calling 404.657.1779

The viability screening is completed prior to the application. The screening determines if an organization is financially viable and administratively capable of operating a food service program.

All nonprofit organizations are required to complete a viability screening. Government entities and School Food Authorities are not required to complete a viability screening.

If your organization is not required to submit a viability screening, you may register for the two day new sponsor training by contacting Leslie Truman at Leslie.Truman@decal.ga.gov or by phone at 404.657.1779.

There is no specific dollar amount that is required, however, your organization should not be in the red.

Happy Helpings is a reimbursement program. The organization will have some financial responsibilities that may include labor, food costs, equipment, or supplies.

Your organization’s financial status could potentially dictate the number of meal sites your organization can operate.

We encourage organizations to submit a complete viability screening as early as possible, however, the deadline to submit the document is seven business days prior to the last scheduled new sponsor training.

If your organization cannot meet the eligibility requirements this summer, you can serve as a meal site. This will afford your organization the opportunity to provide nutritious meals to kids and allow you to gain valuable experience towards becoming a sponsor in the future by clicking here.

The three-part application includes the online application, hard copy documents and a pre-operational visit. The deadline to complete the application is June 15. Once your application is deemed complete, your organization will be notified within 30 days.