Summer Break is here. For Thousands of Kids, So Did Hunger.

Picture summer the way most of us grew up knowing it. Sleeping in. Staying outside until the streetlights came on. Ice cream that melted faster than you could eat it. The smell of sunscreen. The beautiful, lazy freedom of having nowhere to be and nothing to worry about.

Now picture a different summer. You're awake early, not because you want to be, but because the apartment gets hot fast and you're hungry and there's not much in the kitchen.

You know that at school, there was always lunch. Sometimes breakfast too. But school is out now. And that safety net? Gone. Just like that. On the last day of the school year, the cafeteria closed, and with it, one of the most reliable meals of your day.

This is the summer thousands of children in our community are living right now.

And this is the season when The Kind Mouse shows up the hardest.

The Summer Hunger Gap Is Real, and It's Getting Bigger

Here's something that doesn't make it onto summer highlight reels: Hunger doesn't stop when school lets out, and for millions of children, summer can be the hungriest time of year.

Think about it. For a food-insecure child, the school year has a built-in safety net. Breakfast in the cafeteria. Lunch every day. Consistent, reliable, nobody-has-to-ask-for-it nutrition. But the moment that last bell rings in June? The safety net disappears.

And this summer, the gap is wider than ever. In 2026, an estimated 10.1 million children nationwide will not be receiving Summer EBT benefits, the federally funded grocery assistance designed to help families purchase food when school is out. More than $1 billion in nutrition support will remain unclaimed.

Let that land for a second. One billion dollars in nutrition support. Unclaimed. While children go hungry. The programs exist. The need exists. The gap in between? That's where The Kind Mouse lives.

What Summer Actually Looks Like for a Hungry Kid

We want to be real with you, because the reality deserves to be seen. A child experiencing food insecurity during summer isn't always easy to spot. They might seem fine. They might be playing outside with the other kids, laughing, living in the moment the way children do. But at mealtimes, the story changes.

There's the family rationing what's left in the pantry, trying to make it stretch until the end of the month. There's the parent working two jobs who gets home after the kids are already in bed, leaving them to figure out dinner on their own. There's the child who skips breakfast because there isn't any, who fills up on water and waits, and does it again the next day, and the next.

Hunger doesn't announce itself. It just quietly takes up space,  in concentration, in energy, in the ability to simply be a kid during the months that are supposed to be the most carefree of the year.

This Is Why We Don't Take Summers Off

While most organizations follow the school calendar, The Kind Mouse follows the children. Year-round. No breaks. No pauses. No "we'll pick back up in September."

Because when September comes around and a child who spent two months underfed walks back into a classroom, exhausted, behind, and running on empty. The damage is already done. Summer hunger doesn't stay in summer. It shows up in focus, in reading levels, in the quiet ways a child starts to fall behind the moment they couldn't keep up nutritionally.

So The Kind Mouse keeps showing up. All summer long. Across Pinellas County, and now, for the first time, into Manatee County too.

Right now, we're feeding 593 individuals every week in Manatee through our expansion program. Families who depend on us not just during the school year, but through these exact months, the long, hot, school-is-out months when the meals stop and the need doesn't.

Summer Is Bright for Some Kids. Help Make It Brighter for All of Them.

We are not here to make you feel guilty for enjoying your summer. Please, enjoy it. Soak up every bit of it.

We're just here to remind you that while you're savoring those long summer evenings, there's a child nearby who's counting down to September, not because they're excited for school, but because school means food.

You can change that. Right now. This summer.

$25 fuels a delivery run that gets food into the hands of families who need it this week. $50 feeds 10 children for an entire week during the summer gap. $100 keeps our expansion running, food, fuel, and showing up, for seven full days. $500 makes a major difference in how many families we can reach before school starts again.

Every dollar is a meal. Every meal is a child who gets to be a kid this summer instead of a hungry one. Summer break is here. And The Kind Mouse isn't taking one.

Car Credit and Nuevo en US Partner with The Kind Mouse to Fight Hunger

At Car Credit and Nuevo en US, we believe in giving back to the community and making a meaningful impact. That's why we are proud to partner with The Kind Mouse, an incredible organization dedicated to providing hunger relief to children and families in need.

Hunger is a challenge no child should face, and The Kind Mouse is working tirelessly to ensure that children in our community have access to the meals they need to grow, learn, and thrive.

Through this partnership, we are committed to supporting their mission of feeding little tummies and bringing hope to families struggling with food insecurity.

Together, we can make a difference. Join us in supporting The Kind Mouse and creating a brighter future for those in need. Because when we come together, we can ensure that no child goes hungry.