While many kids across Kansas celebrate the end of the school year, some students dread summer break. For them, the summer break represents an interruption in their social connection and deep uncertainty about where they may get their next meal. One in five Kansas kids is food insecure and counts on school meals for consistent access to healthy food. But when school is out of session for the summer, this critical nutrition access is lost.
Kansas families experience uncertainty about food access every day, and it may increase in the summer months. One parent shares, “The stress and worry of never knowing if there will be enough for groceries, particularly healthy ones, is enormous…Those hardships are exacerbated in the summer months when kids are out of school and not receiving school lunch. [Summer programs] help hard-working families make ends meet and ensure children in our community do not go hungry.”
To fill this summer nutrition gap, many local schools and community organizations operate summer meal programs to provide meals to all kids at no cost. Families can use this summer meal site locator to find a nearby meal site and serving times.
Another helpful resource is SUN Bucks, also known as Summer EBT. SUN Bucks helps families fill summer grocery gaps by providing a $120 one-time benefit per eligible child in the household. These benefits are issued on an EBT card (like SNAP and other benefits), and can be used to purchase foods like fruits, vegetables, meat, whole grains, and dairy at grocery stores, some farmers’ markets, and other locations that accept SNAP benefits.
SUN Bucks serves students ages 7-17 who qualify for free and reduced-price school meals or whose household income meets the eligibility requirements for free and reduced-price school meals.
Children in households who have received SNAP or TANF at any point since July 2025, or who have been approved for free and reduced-price school lunch at any time since July 2025, should receive SUN Bucks automatically and do not need to apply. Benefits were issued May 27-May 30, staggered based on last name. Eligible families were notified by DCF by letter or text message about the availability of the SUN Bucks benefits.
Other income-eligible families can apply online on the DCF Self-Service Portal. Applications for families are open until 5:00 p.m. on August 31, 2026.
While SUN Bucks reaches thousands of students across the state and supports their nutrition during the summer, many more eligible students are missing out on this program. The automatic issuance of benefits to students who are already approved for free or reduced-price meals, or for families who already use programs like SNAP, is a strong feature of the program. But other income-eligible families need to submit an application. Families may be unaware of the program or their need to apply.
SUN Bucks are also not automatically issued to all students who attend schools that participate in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). CEP allows high-need schools to serve all meals to students at no cost, regardless of their income. If students in CEP schools have been identified as “directly certified” through their participation in SNAP or other categories, then the SUN Bucks benefits will be automatically issued. Other income-eligible students will need to apply. This may cause confusion, since they did not have to apply for free meals at the CEP school, but now must apply for this program.
Additionally, SUN Bucks does not impact a family’s immigration status or make them a “public charge.” However, some eligible families may not feel safe applying for benefits and may try to fill their summer budgetary gaps in other ways. And many other families note the difficult decisions and tradeoffs they make every day to meet all of their basic needs within a limited budget. One parent notes, “The cost of everything has risen so much that we continue to live paycheck to paycheck. Having assistance helps keep us having a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. No family should have to worry about whether to keep lights on, a roof over our heads, or food. Having this summer food assistance helps out hard-working families in Kansas.”
We celebrate and support the summer nutrition programs such as SUN Bucks and summer meal sites. We also know that there is more work to do to ensure these programs reach all students across Kansas, so no child goes hungry during the summer. One Kansas mother states it clearly: “As a hard-working, single mom of 3 growing boys, this helps ease my worries of my kids having enough food throughout the summer days. And that no one, including myself, has to skip any meals.”
