Meal distribution vehicle moving to high school

The Painesville City School District’s mobile meal distribution vehicle, The Lunch Box, will no longer be making routine stops throughout the city.

Instead meal distribution will be centralized at a specific location in order to meet ongoing regulations related to novel coronavirus mitigation efforts.

“Due to increasing restrictions with the “stay at home” order, and based on the fact that the vast majority of meals are being picked up by car, the Lunch Box mobile food service program will not be operating as currently scheduled beyond Thursday, April 9,” a statement from the district read.

Beginning April 14, meals can be acquired at Harvey High School, 200 West Walnut Ave., between noon and 1 p.m.. on Tuesdays and Fridays only. However, meals for multiple days can be accessed during these visits.

For the past five years Painesville City School District has utilized its mobile lunch program and the Lunch Box, in an effort to make sure area children in need are able to access a daily meal, primarily during the summer vacation months when students are away from their school lunches.

Food insecurity among children is cited as a major concern among groups like Feeding America who’s 2019 report found that one in five children are at risk to experience food insecurity or shortage.

To combat this, the school district created a summer food service program.

According to District Superintendent Joshua Englehart the program did not receive a lot of initial participation.

“Even though Painesville City is geographically not a huge district, there are still challenges for kids to get to the site whether that’s because they’re crossing railroad tracks or being miles away,” he said.

To counteract this, the

district’s Nutritional Director Kelly Minnick created the Lunch Box.

“I came across a used trailer that had been on the NASCAR circuit,” she said. “I got it renovated and it went from there.”

This need was most recently highlighted with area children no longer attending school in-person to avoid potential COVID-19 infection. As a result area children were also kept from their daily school lunches. In response, the mobile Lunch Box began making routine stops at school buildings on weekdays.

The program is federally reimbursed through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Care Program.