For a fourth year in a row, a free summer food program continues to serve the community.
Linda Martin, Sweetwater County School District No. 2 nutrition service director, and Leah Kenison, nutrition service assistant director, have implemented the summer food program since 2015. It is a federal grant given to areas based on the yearly census. Once approved, it is in place for five years. The census is reassessed each year and the five years is extended accordingly. Currently, Green River has three elementary schools in the program; Monroe, Truman and Washington. This is Washington’s first year and the district is excited to have a school on the north side of town. Each school serves breakfast from 9-10 a.m. and lunch from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“I want to stress this is not a low-income program, it is for everyone,” Martin said.
It’s a program designed for kids who have both parents working during the summer and can walk down for breakfast and lunch. It is a great opportunity for entering kindergarten students to get familiar with school lunch. It can be one less unknown stressor when they enter school for the first time. While it is not income based, it still helps those kids whose families are in need. Every year it grows and becomes a bigger part of the community.
“If there is one kid missing out, it is one kid too many,” said Martin. “We don’t think that there are people like that in our community, but there are.”
This year each school has added a fun zone. In the fun zone, activities are provided like coloring or puzzles to give the kids a safe place to play. They even have books for the kids to take home for free.
Each school has a hot and a cold lunch, but it must be eaten on the premises. All groups are welcome to come. Summer school, summer day camp and day cares have all taken part of the program, which has added up to 1,150 breakfasts and 4,302 lunches being served so far. The program supplies meals for ages 18 and younger for free and adult meals are $4. The first year the program was implemented, Martin and Kenison, took on most of the work load to get it started, but now it is turning into a well-oiled machine.
“Thank you to the community for supporting this program. If people don’t come and use it, we lose it,” Martin said. “This program can’t go away. The district has seen the value, which is how it should be.”
Kenison described her reasons for childhood hunger being a cause close to her heart. She talked about a mother chasing her down while she was driving the school district food truck at the end of a day. The mother came running up to her pleading for a few lunches for her kids. They have had a rough morning with a potty training accident and missed the lunch. Kenison gave her two sacks for her children. The mother hugged her exclaiming her distress on how she would find food for her children as this was all they had to eat some days. She was truly grateful for the program.
“It just not something a kid should have to worry about, ya know, where their next meal is coming from,” Kenison said.
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