H.R. 10038: Feeding Our Rural Kids Act of 2026 (119th Congress) Bill Summary

This bill would create a new federal pilot program to help schools and other meal providers deliver summer meals to children in areas where getting food to kids is harder.

What the program would do

The Secretary of Agriculture would set up a summer meal delivery vehicle pilot program. The program would give grants to eligible service organizations to buy, retrofit, or repair vehicles that can be used to deliver meals during the summer. The goal is to make it easier to provide noncongregate meals, meaning meals that children can take home rather than eating on site.

Who could get grants

Grants would go to eligible service institutions. The bill says the Agriculture Department should give priority to applicants in:

areas with poor economic conditions,
areas outside core-based statistical areas, which generally means more rural places, and
areas serving a high share of students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

The department would also be directed, as much as practical, to spread grants across different states.

How the grants would work

The pilot program would begin with the first summer after the law has been in effect for 180 days.
Each grant would last 1 year.
Each grant would be capped at $100,000.
No more than 10% of a grant could be used for administrative costs.

Reporting and oversight

Recipients would have to periodically report how they used the money and what effect it had. Those reports would need to include:

the number and types of sites that benefited, and
the number of children served.

The Agriculture Department would also have to provide technical assistance and share best practices with grant recipients. Within 4 years after the program is created, the department would have to send Congress a report summarizing how the pilot program operated and what the recipient reports showed.