No Kid Hungry serves free summer meals to kids in Carpinteria

Hollywood stars Jeff Bridges and Cailee Spaeny stopped by the Carpinteria Boys and Girls Club Wednesday afternoon as No Kid Hungry provided free meals for dozens of area children.

Bridges is the national spokesman for No Kid Hungry and a local resident. He stressed that kids struggling with hunger need the extra helping finding a meal in the summertime when school is out and fewer meals are provided.

“Twenty million kids in America are qualified for having free breakfast and lunch in school,” Bridges said. “But only four million of those twenty million kids participate in summer meals. So we want to get the word out.”

Spaeny met Bridges while working on a movie and wanted to become involved in the cause after Bridges told her about No Kid Hungry. She implored other young people to also get involved.

“You can help at a young age,” Spaeny said. “You don’t have to be older, you don’t have to reach a certain age to start helping. So that’s why I’m out here today!”

According to Nancy Weiss, Director of Santa Barbara County Unified School District Food Services, one in five children in Santa Barbara are hungry.

“That’s a huge percentage when you look at Santa Barbara as a whole,” Weiss said.

If you would like to find where No Kid Hungry is offering free summer meals, text FOOD to 877-877.