Bean’s Cafe to pass out meals for ASD students this summer at Mountain View Community Center

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Bean’s Cafe is pushing to ensure that Anchorage children who need a meal this summer have access to them once the school year ends.

For the first time this summer, Bean’s Cafe will deliver meals to the Mountain View Community Center.

“Just because it’s summer break, it doesn’t mean it’s a break from a good, healthy meal,” said Kate Matheson, the Director of Development and Community Relations. “ We’re thinking a lot about the kids this summer and how we can help.”

The nonprofit aims to distribute 100 meals a day at the center, which will serve meals from 4 to 5 pm. This will start at some point next week, according to Matheson.

“We’ve been talking with Parks and Rec, who now manages the Mountain View Community Center, and they think that might be a great fit for their population,” Matheson said.

In 2024, Bean’s Cafe told Alaska’s News Source that 14% of Anchorage children are living in a food-insecure household.

During the summer, Matheson said children might be feeling the impacts of their food insecurity even more.

“I think that they are feeling insecure that they don’t know where their next meal is coming from — whereas each day when they go to school, they know where their meal is coming from a little better,” Matheson said.

On a statewide level, Alaska sees 17.8% of children battling food insecurity, according to 2023 data compiled by Feeding America.

At the same time, the need for meal services in the Anchorage School District has increased. This past school year, ASD said it saw 152 more students qualify to receive a free or reduced meal.

Bean’s Cafe, however, noted that it has seen a drop in meals — including pantry packs — that it has provided from last year to this year.

“...we are phasing out the pantry pack program, which began during COVID when we could not reach the children at school and after-school programs, so we began providing the non-perishable foods in pantry packs through a community distribution plan. We will always have the pantry packs, but the need is not as high as it was during COVID,” Matheson said.

Bean’s Cafe also noted that it is still awaiting information from ASD about when its federally funded Summer Food Service Program will kick off and where the locations will be.

According to the ASD website, meal services through this program will run at select schools through June 26.

Additionally, Matheson said Bean’s Cafe has reached out to all schools it provides pantry packs for to see what the need will look like this summer amongst their student population.

“Maybe they’re not at school reading all day and studying all day, but they need proper nutrition to get through a fun day of summer,” Mattheson said.

Currently, Bean’s Cafe plans to donate 2,000 pantry packs from its Ship Avenue location this summer. Each pack can provide food for a family of four.

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