"Feeding Austin's hungry" is the mission the Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples hopes the city will adopt.

The commissioner wants Austin and the rest of the state to feed as many children as possible this summer through the Texas Department of Agriculture's Summer Nutrition Programs.

"Unfortunately Texas ranks No. 1 in the nation in children that are food insecure," he said. "I am outraged by this statistic. There's absolutely no reason with the resources that we have, as successful as Texas is, that children in our state be food insecure and we can do something about it."

The Summer Nutrition Programs provide free meals during the summer to children who typically rely on meals served at school.

To date, there are 76 sites open to feed the hungry including the Metz Recreation Center.

The Austin Parks and Recreation Department expects to serve about 35,000 meals over the next few months.