The Collective Power of Community: How Small Acts Create Big Change
April 29, 2026What you need to know and how to get help
June 4, 2026June 1, 2026
Hunger Has No Season: Summer Hunger on Long Island Leaves Families Struggling for Food Assistance
For many children, the last day of school marks the start of carefree summer days filled with camp, pool time, and family vacations. But for thousands of Long Island families facing food insecurity, summer brings a different reality: uncertainty about where the next meal will come from.
During the school year, many children rely on free school breakfast and lunch programs to receive consistent, nutritious meals each day. When schools close for the summer, those meals disappear leaving parents and caregivers struggling to replace two meals a day while household budgets are already stretched thin.
At the same time, food pantries across Long Island often see pantry shelves running more bare during the summer months. Food donations tend to slow down while the need for emergency food assistance continues to rise. Families facing higher grocery bills, childcare costs, and reduced work hours are often forced to make impossible choices between food, rent, utilities, transportation, and medical expenses.
The truth is simple: hunger has no season.
How food banks like Island Harvest Food Bank Help Address Summer Hunger on Long Island
Island Harvest Food Bank works year-round to help children, families, seniors, and veterans access nutritious food across Long Island. During the summer months, the need becomes even greater as children lose access to school meals.
Through summer feeding programs on Long Island, enrolled children can receive free meals at local community centers, camps, and recreational facilities throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties. These summer meal programs provide more than nourishment – they offer stability, relief, and peace of mind for families facing food insecurity.
Island Harvest also supports a network of local food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency feeding programs working every day to help neighbors in need.
But food banks and food pantries cannot do it alone.
How You Can Help Fight Summer Hunger
Donate Food to Local Food Pantries
Nonperishable food donations help stock the shelves of Long Island food pantries and feeding programs serving families in need throughout the summer.
Most-needed items include:
- Cereal
- Peanut butter
- Canned vegetables
- Pasta and rice
- Shelf-stable milk
- Healthy snacks for children
You can also support the PSEG Long Island Power to Feed food drives at Stop & Shop locations throughout the summer or organize your own community food drive to help neighbors facing hunger.
Make a Financial Donation
A financial contribution to Island Harvest Food Bank helps support summer feeding sites and emergency food assistance programs across Long Island. Monetary donations allow food banks to distribute nutritious food efficiently, respond quickly to increased demand, and provide meals to children and families when they need them most.
Spread Awareness About Hunger on Long Island
Summer hunger often goes unseen. Sharing information about food insecurity, local food pantries, and available resources can help connect families to support while encouraging others to get involved in hunger-relief efforts.
Every child deserves a summer filled with joy, growth, and opportunity – not hunger.
Together, we can help ensure Long Island families have access to the nutritious food and support they need all summer long.