Reimbursement of Summer Special Food Service Program Sponsor

The Department of Agriculture questioned the propriety of reimbursing a Summer Special Food Service Program sponsor for expenses incurred in feeding needy children. Expenditures of institutions providing free meals to needy children under the National School Lunch Act are not usually reimbursed when the institution has not obtained a tax-exempt certification from the Internal Revenue Service. However, if the Secretary of Agriculture determines that the institution was nonprofit in nature, as required, and that failure to obtain tax-exempt certification was a result of good faith misunderstanding, the claimant's expenses may be reimbursed.