Maryland SUN Bucks

​​​Maryland SUN Bucks Helped Feed a Record 630,000 Students in 2025

The Challenge

​​During the summer, many children lose access to free or reduced-price school meals, forcing families to stretch their grocery budgets. As a result, children may experience greater food insecurity—which can have serious consequences for health, well-being, and educational success. Before the summer of 2024, families across the state had limited options for summer food support.

Our Solution

In 2024, Maryland launched the Maryland SUN Bucks program, which leveraged federal dollars to provide $40 per month for June, July, and August ($120 total) for each eligible child in the State. The program used a more efficient enrollment approach that reduced the administrative burden on families, automatically enrolling 99% of children who received Maryland SUN Bucks. The Moore-Miller Administration’s efforts to expand access and improve data sharing in the summer of 2024 led the state to feed more than 605,000 that year, and local government matching funds were not required.

The Maryland Departments of Human Services, Education, Health, and the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange partnered to share data, combining information from local school systems like Free and Reduced-Price Meals (FARMs) and enrollment in other benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA), and Medicaid. This allowed for seamless approval for children and families to receive SUN Bucks. SUN Bucks benefits were then automatically added to a family’s existing benefits card. For new families, the Department of Human Services mailed SUN Bucks cards to their addresses on file.

Results of Our Work

In summer 2024, SUN Bucks helped feed more than 605,000 children across all 24 jurisdictions in Maryland. This was compared to about 90,000 children the previous year. In summer 2025, this number increased to a record 630,006 students served (as of October 9, 2025).

Bar chart showing students served through Maryland's Sun Bucks program
Note: Data as of October 9, 2025

The State of Maryland issued $72.1 million in federally-funded grocery buying benefits in 2024, making SUN Bucks the largest investment to combat childhood hunger during the summer months in Maryland's history. That summer, Maryland SUN Bucks built upon Maryland's existing summer SNAP program and expanded the reach six-fold. In 2024, the Eastern Shore saw a ten-fold increase in the number of children served, while Western Maryland saw a remarkable 71-fold increase. Maryland was one of the first states in the mid-Atlantic region to issue SUN Bucks in 2024.

The following summer, the State issued a new record $75.5 million SUN Bucks benefits. The continued growth of the SUN Bucks builds on the success of last year’s innovative program. In summer 2025, the State launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled chatbot tool that answered questions regarding SUN Bucks, developed in partnership with Code for America and No Kid Hungry. The tool had more than 45,000 interactions across over 16,000 unique users, and it provided support such as answers to frequently asked questions and an eligibility quiz designed to simplify ways Marylanders receive the information that they need to access and utilize SUN Bucks.​

Bar chart showing 2025 Marylanbd Sun Bucks Students by jurisdiction​
Note: Data as of Ocrober 9, 2025. 630,006 total includes 2,510 Maryland students with out of state address.