Schools strive to keep students fed with free meals over summer

For many kids in Yuma and around the country, food security isn’t a given, and during the school year lunches and breakfasts served on campus can be a lifeline.

That’s why when summer comes around and school is no longer in session, area school districts have programs that make sure students can still get meals for free.

Crane School District, Yuma Elementary School District One and Yuma Union High School District all have free summer lunch programs, reimbursed by the USDA’s summer food service program.

“I think we have an obligation to kids’ well-being,” said District One Superintendent Jamie Sheldahl. “That’s why we have summer school for kids that need to do some catching up, and we have several programs for migrant students and so on. So we try to take care of that responsibility year-round.”

For District One’s free summer lunch program, they teamed up with Yuma Union and have more than two dozen locations where breakfast, lunch and evening snacks are being served.

Crane serves both breakfast and lunch at six different schools in their district, cooking up favorites like waffles, spaghetti, enchiladas and burgers.

And for a community like Yuma, this kind of service is especially necessary, as it’s one of the most economically challenged communities in Arizona and around the country.

According to Shara Whitehead, president and CEO of the Yuma Community Food Bank, the percentage of Yuma County children who live in food

insecure homes is 35.5%.

And though it’s down from just under 40% in 2015 — an improvement she said can be explained by gains in the local economy — the number is still high compared with national statistics.

Also, according to Sheldahl, about 70% of kids in his district qualify for free or reduced lunches.

“I’m grateful for the position that I’m in,” said Michael Clark, Crane’s director of school nutrition. “Because I have the ability to fill that need. It’s hard for me to know that there are children within our community, within our own city, within our neighborhoods, that behind closed doors, they maybe don’t get anything to eat.

“That’s why we do what we do.”

And for Clark, one of the main focuses with his work has been to increase participation and get kids eating. That’s why Crane, in addition to District One and Yuma Union, don’t meanstest or require any identification for their summer lunch programs.

Clark said that this reduces a kind of stigma that can be attached to receiving free or reduced price lunches, too.

Clark also said that at Crane, they try to make appetizing food like burritos, carnitas and tacos that mirrors what those in Yuma like to eat in order to draw people in.

“We want our community to feel like it’s part of… where they can go and just relax,” said Clark.

In both summer lunch programs, parents and family can also eat for cheap. Crane charges $3.50 for lunch and $2.50 for breakfast, and District One and Yuma Union charge $2.50 for lunches.

Crane serves lunch from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and breakfast from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Gary A. Knox, Salida del Sol, Pueblo, Valley Horizon, Ronald Reagan and Rancho Viejo Elementary Schools until July 27. There will not be any service on July 4.

For District One and Yuma Union’s summer lunch program, there are a variety of different locations and times that can be viewed at bit.ly/2HKyJPb.