Summer Meals 2025 Impact
CAPITAL REGION, NY (December 9, 2025)- During the 2025 season, the Summer Meals Collaborative, comprised of 30 community partners, served 212,342 meals at more than 80 sites throughout the Greater Capital Region.
United Way of the Greater Capital Region founded the Summer Meals Collaborative in 2013 with the knowledge that working together with our community partners, we can better support and sustain nutrition security for children in the Capital Region. New York State is the largest Summer Meals provider in the country, and the Summer Meals Collaborative model in the Capital Region remains a driving force behind the numbers.
More than Just a Meal
Summer Meals Collaborative focuses on access to nutritious meals while also providing fun, enrichment activities for the entire family. By providing diverse meal options and creating engaging experiences for children and their families, we are making the Capital Region the BEST place to be a kid in the summer!
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Summer Meals Ambassadors Program
This past summer, we activated our community members to help spread the word about the Summer Meals Collaborative.
This provided an excellent opportunity to open new doors, reach more people, and keep the conversation among community members going.
We saw tremendous growth as well, with 16 school districts participating with the collaborative. We also increased the number of rural sites, 22 in total, across Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schoharie counties. Our data shows that 44% if all meals served were in rural counties.
As a result of the activities provided, we had more than double the number of children stay at meal sites with their friends. 10 Block Parties were hosted in Schenectady, Albany and Troy through the summer months.