The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
SUMMER LUNCH PROGRAM IMPACTS COMMUNITY Painesville Schools mobile summer lunch program hailed a success
Dozens of children waited patiently, but excitedly, in line at Chestnut Elementary School in Painesville for The Lunch Box on July 31.
The Lunch Box, which is Painesville Schools’ mobile summer food program, provides free nutritious lunches to children and teens 18 years or younger.
For over two months, the district’s nutrition department traveled to six sites in the city, Mondays through Fridays.
In addition to Chestnut Elementary, they distributed lunches at Harvey High School, and Maple Elementary School, State Street Park, St. Mary’s Church and Elm Street Elementary.
Nutrition Services Tessie Hacker said this has been another successful year for The Lunch Box program.
“Last year we served over 15,000 lunches and I think we will exceed that this year,” she said. “We serve about 250 lunches daily and prepare about 300. It’s better to have more than enough than not enough.”
Lorina Meeks follows The Lunch Box trailer in a van with 10 additional lunches.
Meeks, who works in Nutrition Services at Chestnut Elementary, waits at each stop for about 10 minutes after the trailer leaves for any latecomers. She also ensures that no trash is left on the ground at each site.
In years’ past the district offered summer lunches at one of the school buildings.
“It was often a challenge for some of the students to get to that location to pick up a lunch,” Painesville Schools Director of Nutrition Services Kelly Minnick said in a previous interview. “(In 2016) we almost tripled the number of meals we served.”
One local babysitter, Lori Gonzalez, said The Lunch Box is very beneficial.
“I bring the kids about twice a week to play on the playground and get a nutritious meal,” Gonzalez said. “We make a day of it.”
The meals are comprised of five components — grain, dairy, meat, fruit and vegetable, said Hacker.
Once a week, Domino’s Pizza is served.
Sharon Vanic, who drives The Lunch Box, is also very hands-on in setting up and assisting the children at each stop.
“I love to help,” said Vanic, who is also a school bus driver for the district. “There is such a need for this program. One mother told me that we were Godsent.”
Minnick and the district’s nutrition staff were recently recognized for their efforts to provide healthy meals to students during the summer.
Children’s Hunger Alliance, a statewide nonprofit organization that is dedicated to ending childhood hunger, selected “The Lunch Box” as the Summer Food Service Program of the Year for 2016.
“The Lunch Box program is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my career,” said Minnick, who has been working in food service for 26 years.
She said the goal of The Lunch Box was to bridge the gap, because many students get most of their calories at school.
According to the Children’s Hunger Alliance more than 575,000 children across Ohio live in food-insecure households which means one in five kids are unsure of where their next meal is coming from.
This is the second year for the mobile food program. For mor information visit painesville-city. k12.oh.us.
The last day for The Lunch Box is Aug. 4.