Kids Cafe

The Houston Food Bank’s Kids Cafe program partners with various community sites to provide free meals and snacks to low-income children up to 18 years in age. The objective of Kids Cafe is to help alleviate childhood hunger by providing children with access to fresh, healthy and warm meals in after-school, summer, and child care programs.

Kids Café

Nourishing, kid-friendly meals served year-round to children in child care, after-school and summer meal program sites throughout 18 southeast Texas counties.

Nourishing, kid-friendly meals served year-round to children in child care, after-school and summer meal program sites throughout 18 southeast Texas counties.

Kids cafe helps assist with food insecurity

Kids Cafe provides fresh, healthy meals and snacks for children up to 18 years old. Meals are cooked in our on-site Keegan Kitchen year-round on weekdays and distributed through our partnerships with after school, child care and summer meal sites. Use our map to find a Kids Cafe location near you.

Partner with the Houston Food Bank

Grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture allow the Houston Food Bank to partner with community organizations to ensure children have access to free meals during the summer and after school. All meals meet or exceed USDA requirements.

Organizations that would like to partner with the Houston Food Bank must complete an application and meet program requirements.

To ensure a smooth application process, double check that your site name and all required information is correct. If you are new to our application site, you must register for an account. If your site isn’t listed in our system, please enter its full name to create a new entry.

Apply here or contact kidscafe@houstonfoodbank.org for more information.

Summer Meals
  • Summer Meal Program

When school is out for the summer, organizations can partner with the Houston Food Bank to provide breakfast, lunch and snack options to nourish our youth. Through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), the Houston Food Bank provides more than 12,000 meals per day to more than 250 community sites.

Program runs through: June 10 to Aug. 9, 2024.

After School
  • After School Program

Children should have nutritious food to fuel their evenings. Kids Cafe, funded by the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), provides meals and snacks to our network of after-school enrichment sites. Participation encourages academic success, health and wellness, and physical activity. More than one million meals were provided by Kids Cafe last fiscal year.

Program runs: through the school year, from September to May.

Child Care
  • Child Care Meals

Kids Cafe also offers a range of hot meals and snacks tailored to the nutritional needs of infants and children enrolled in public, private or nonprofit childcare facilities, Head Start programs and other licensed institutions approved to participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Participating organizations will also receive continuous nutrition education sessions, resources to promote healthy eating in the classroom, and the opportunity to engage with the Houston Food Bank Culinary Healthy Education for Families (CHEF) program.

Program runs: year round.

“The Houston Food Bank has helped out a lot at our center . It has been a wonderful opportunity and we are truly grateful.”

Veronica Valenzuela, Church Woman United Child Care Center

“Children receive a wide variety of healthy meals we could not provide with our kids cafe.”

Joseph Rollins, Holloway Preschool & Day Care

“It means a lot because we depend on Houston Food Bank to provide nutritious meals for our students. It’s a very important partnership that we want to continue to grow and improve.”

Jose Hernandez, Urban Strategies

“They have been a tremendous help with providing meals, educating our staff and we especially love the new activities they have been providing our daycare with!”

Emily Villarreal, Children’s Island Paradise Daycare

“The partnership to us and our center means a lot we are grateful to be able to still be with the program for a long time.”

Maria Munoz, Alpha Academy #2

“Peace of mind on the parents- it allows them to be stress free on whether their child is receiving a healthy meal every day.”

TaNia Brown, Childrens Academy at University Park

“So happy to have a great partner for our center to use to ensure youth are receiving a healthy & nourishing meal.”

Tamina C. Allen, YMCA Children’s Academy at HCC

“It provides our children with nutritious meals.”

Tiyoka Cratchan, Audrey Moody Ley Children's Academy

“It means a lot and is appreciated because the children at our center get nutritious meals that they might not have or get at home especially if their parents have busy schedules.”

Guadalupe Boone, YMCA CHILDREN'S ACADEMY at Avenue

“It means a lot for us and the children.”

Nelida Rodriguez, YMCA TMC

For questions regarding Kids Cafe, please contact:

Kids Cafe Program
kidscafe@houstonfoodbank.org

Have a concern? Submit a confidential report to Lighthouse Services, a third party who helps Houston Food Bank resolve issues.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider. In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.