November 5, 2025

Dear Community, 

As the federal shutdown continues, we are committed to keeping our community informed with timely updates. 

NCA has confirmed with USDA that funds were released to State agencies to cover all reimbursement and cash-in-lieu claims for meals served in October and November.

Funds should be disbursed to operators in November and December as usual.  

We understand that this is a time of uncertainty, especially with ongoing questions about other federal food assistance programs like SNAP and WIC. These programs are vital to many of the communities you serve, and we recognize the concern this may cause.

To help during this time, we wanted to share where families and providers can access food if program access is disrupted:

Feeding America Food Bank Locator

Find your local food bank by ZIP code. Many offer groceries, meals, and connections to other services.

Hunger Free America Hunger Hotline

Call 1-866-3-HUNGRY (or 1-877-8-HAMBRE for Spanish) or text 97779 with a keyword like “food” or “meals” to find nearby food assistance.

More ideas to help families during this time include:

• Expand enrollment of existing afterschool education programs that provide CACFP meals, if capacity allows.
  
• Offer snack and supper in the CACFP afterschool meals program, with State agency approval.
  
• Send leftover food home with families (cannot be reimbursed through CACFP and must follow State/local safety standards).  
  
• Harvest food from your garden, if you have one, and distribute produce to families.
  
• Partner with a local charitable organization to organize food donations for families (must use non-CACFP funds).

We recognize this can be a challenging time for CACFP providers. Here are some helpful tools to stretch your budget:

• Healthy Choices on a Budget 
  
• Budget Savvy Sample Menu 

We are grateful for your commitment to ensuring that millions of children and adults have access to nutritious foods. We’ll keep you informed as we learn more.

Sincerely,

Lisa Mack

President & CEO
National CACFP Association