By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Three summers ago, local humanitarian Kwabi Amoah-Forson launched the “All Youth Can Eat” campaign to support individuals facing hunger in the Seattle and Tacoma areas. With one in six children experiencing daily hunger, the initiative has focused on reducing food insecurity among young people during the critical summer months.
The campaign, which started in Tacoma and has expanded into Seattle, allows any youth who comes to a participating restaurant to receive a free meal between July 1, 2025 and September 1, 2025. Typically, restaurants create a special “All Youth Can Eat” menu by selecting low-cost items from their regular offerings, allowing young participants to choose from a variety of options. Each establishment also has the flexibility to decide whether to serve only children and teens aged 18 and under, extend the offer to college students up to age 24 (with a valid student ID), or include both groups.
“Every single day of the week, there is at least one restaurant locally within the city where a youth or college student, 18 to 24, can receive a free meal,” said Amoah-Forson.
For those interested in participating in his campaign, Amoah-Forson aims to keep the process as simple and accessible as possible.
“It is absolutely free. When a family or youth goes into the restaurant, there is a QR code on an all-youth-can-eat poster, and all you have to do is scan it with your cell phone,” said Amoah-Forson. “Then they would fill out a short survey, saying what restaurant they are participating at, and how many times they have participated.”
Driven by a deep belief that no young person should go hungry in a community with the resources to help, Amoah-Forson created the initiative to address hunger during the summer months when school-based meal programs are unavailable.
“There are a lot of people who have ideas to help others, but they don’t feel empowered to be able to do it. But I told myself that I can do this, and it is feasible,” Amoah-Forson said. “Hunger is an issue that hinders our community, and it is something that we can all agree on that is a major issue. So, I knew that if I were to go out and create a campaign to address hunger, the support would be there.”
The campaign was originally designed to feed everyone, regardless of age. However, over time, Amoah-Forson realized that people were more inclined to help feed the youth compared to young adults. This insight led him to shift the focus towards feeding the youth, until he recently extended the age range to 24.
“The idea was to feed everybody, anyone who is hungry,” says Amoah-Forson. “But I have been around the nation promoting humanitarianism and peace, and it is sort of strange how in the Northwest everyone is on board when we talk about helping the youth, but once you get towards the teen and young adult age, people start to fall off.
“We love our kids, and I know I can’t feed everyone, so I said, let me start with the youth,” he added.
Amoah-Forson says that the program is designed to be seamless and stigma-free, in order to maximize participation.
“The cool thing about the campaign is that the kids don’t have to use a token or a ticket to participate, so you can’t tell who the kids are that can afford to eat and who can’t afford to eat,” Amoah-Forson said. “You just see everyone eating together and that is how it should be.”
For Amoah-Forson, the effort is bittersweet. On one hand he is able to make sure that many kids are able to eat over the summer. On the other hand, the program continues to grow, which indicates that there is still more work to be done in order to eliminate hunger in our community.
“Last year we feed 3,000 youth and college students, so the growth is there. This year I am extending the campaign to the cities of Denver and Toledo, Ohio,” said Amoah-Forson.
“If food was something that you didn’t need to survive then yes it would be a luxury, but we all need it to live,” he added. “[The campaign] is now a national movement to end hunger, and I am very proud of that.”
While this year’s list of participating restaurants is still being finalized, Amoah-Forson says that he will announce the official “All Youth Can Eat” restaurant roster and participants before July 1.
“I don’t have an official list yet, as it is growing every day,” said Amoah-Forson. “But as of right now, I have 11 restaurants in Tacoma, 4 restaurants in Seattle, 2 in Denver, and to be determined in Toledo.”
