D1. Sponsor Informational Email from FNS

OMB Control No: 0584-XXXX Expiration Date: XX/XX/20XX Expiration Date: 03/31/2019

Appendix D1. Sponsor Informational Email from FNS

Subject: Please Participate in the Summer Meals Study

Dear Summer Meals Program Sponsor:

The United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is conducting a study of the Summer Meals Programs—the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the Seamless Summer Option (SSO). The Summer Meals Study will help us better understand who participates in summer meals programs, and how we could better meet the nutritional needs of children in the summer. The study will ask about how satisfied participants are with the programs, and why some families and their children do not participate in summer meals. We will also collect information on how the meals are served, where they are served, and how healthy the summer meals are. FNS is working with Westat to collect information from program sponsors, site supervisors, participating children, as well as children who do not participate, and their caregivers during Summer 2018. Please see the attached Summer Meals Study brochure for more details.

The law governing the Summer Meal Programs requires organizations participating in the programs to cooperate in studies such as the Summer Meals Study. While your participation in this study is voluntary, your input is valuable and important to this study’s success! A member of Westat’s study team will be sending you an email within a week with a link to a short web survey on 2018 operation plans for your site(s) selected to be in the study. The web survey should take about 15 minutes to fill out and will ask you to (1) confirm whether the selected site(s) will operate in Summer 2018, (2) provide contact information for the site’s menu planner(s), and (3) indicate whether the selected site(s) uses cycle menus. After the short web survey is completed, you and your site(s) staff will be asked to fill out surveys about program implementation and menu planning practices and to provide site menus for two selected weeks. You may also be invited to participate in a telephone discussion about your experience participating in summer meals programs.

We look forward to your partnership in this very important study. If you have any specific questions about the study, please send an email to SUMS@westat.com and we will respond. If you have any general questions or concerns, you may contact the FNS Project Officer, Alice Ann Gola at AliceAnn.Gola@fns.usda.gov.

Sincerely,

Alice Ann Gola, Ph.D.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 5 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services, Office of Policy Support, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1014, Alexandria, VA 22302 ATTN: PRA (0584-xxxx*). Do not return the completed form to this address.