By Gia Myers • Posted September 16, 2024

For many local students heading back to school for the 2024-2025 academic year, feeling hungry when the school day ends is something they won’t need to experience, thanks to Nutritional Development Services (NDS) and it’s After School Meals program.

Through its after school program, NDS, an agency of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, provides free meals to elementary and high school students in Philadelphia and the suburbs. They receive a snack, hot meal, or cold meal, depending on the program’s timing and the needs of the children.

This initiative is part of the federally funded Child and Adult Care Food Program operated nationally by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It’s administered locally by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Last year, NDS provided approximately 543,000 snacks and suppers that were served at no cost to families throughout all five counties in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

All meals meet federal nutrition guidelines and provide one-third of a child’s daily nutritional needs.

“There’s a lot that goes into meeting those requirements,” said NDS Assistant Director of Community Relations David Stier.  “[Foods] must have the right amount of calories, not contain too many sugars, and represent different food groups.”

The program started locally in 1999 as a pilot  and has grown ever since. Last year, NDS provided meals to 109 sites, where many students go to do homework, receive tutoring, and wait for their working parents or caregivers before going home.

NDS staff packs meals with care into white boxes about the size of a shoebox.

“It’s always fun to see [a child] open the box to see what’s in there,” says Andrea Brophy, Assistant Administrator of After-School Meals who is responsible for planning menus for the  program.

Brophy says that it’s not always obvious when a family has a hunger issue, “so, it’s nice after school to fill their bellies because not every child is going home to dinner,” she said.

Brophy has the challenging task of creating meal menus for the program.  She works to incorporate foods that are varied, nutritious, and enjoyable for children to eat.  The federal requirements call for proteins, fruits, vegetables, whole-grains, and milk to be a part of every meal.

A typical menu may include a sandwich, salad, and a piece of fresh fruit one day.  Another day it might include yogurt, sunflower kernels, a muffin, baby carrots, and juice.

Once a week, children have a meal that includes breakfast cereal because NDS found a few years ago that “kids love having cereal after school,” says Brophy.  “It’s one of the more popular items,” she said.

Brophy hopes the meals are teaching children “how to snack healthier.”  Instead of automatically reaching for potato chips and soda, “they’re going to grab that cheese stick, or baby carrots, an apple, or hummus,” said Brophy.  “I think it’s a pattern that if they learn it early, they’ll stick to it.”

NDS receives feedback that behavior among children is improved due to the nourishing meals.  Some students may eat lunch at school as early as 11 a.m.  They arrive at after-school programs around 3 p.m., and most stay until 6 p.m.

“That’s a really long stretch,” said Brophy for students to go without meals.

To ensure the children enjoy the nutritious foods packed for them, NDS conducts taste testing with a registered dietician and groups of children.

“We talk about textures and how to describe foods,” says Erinn Hill, director of Child Nutrition Programs.

“We’re always doing surveys with our food managers to get their feedback on how the kids are responding to the food.  We’re collecting that information year-round,” she said.

“As soon as we hear consistently something is not going over well, we roll that item out of the menu and try to replace it with something more appealing,” said Brophy.

Other popular food items among students include chocolate hummus, cheddar cheese cups with fruit or healthy chips for dipping, turkey sticks, and cheese sticks.

Of the chocolate hummus, Stier says, “Some of the children were eating it like pudding.  It was a healthy snack that they were really enjoying eating because of the way it was flavored.”

NDS enrolls new sites into the program all year long.  Meals are delivered free of charge to sites that have enough storage for 2-3 days’ worth of food, and students consume the meals on site.

After school and enrichment programs interested in participating can contact NDS at 215-895-3470, option 4, for more information.