The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Federal program offers lunches for kids during summer break

Nathan Hicks, 3, drinks juice during his lunch at St. Paul United Methodist Church, one of 62 sites where kids can get a free lunch in Dayton. Staff photo by Ron Alvey

Ron Alvey Nathan Hicks, 3, drinks juice during his lunch at St. Paul United Methodist Church, one of 62 sites where kids can get a free lunch in Dayton. Staff photo by Ron Alvey

ENLARGE PHOTO

Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
Man not wearing life jacket when he drowns in Caesar Creek Lake
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

By Anthony Gottschlich, Staff Writer Updated 12:08 AM Sunday, June 21, 2009

Kids get just as hungry in the summer.

That’s why the federal government offers the Summer Food Service Program in poor school districts across the country. Begun in 1968, the program last year served more than 2 million children at nearly 33,000 sites.

This summer promises to be even busier. The U.S. Department of Agriculture spent $312 million on the program last summer, including $8.4 million in Ohio and slightly more than $1 million in Montgomery County, according to the USDA and Ohio Department of Education. Officials expect more demand than ever amid the economic times and growing awareness of the program. “In the past seven years, Ohio has had a 21 percent growth in the Summer Food Service Program,” serving nearly 61,000 children last year — up from 40,000 in 2004, said Cecelia Torok, associate director of ODE’s Office for Safety, Health and Nutrition.

In Dayton, school district officials expect to serve 135,000 breakfasts, lunches and snacks at 62 sites this summer, a 73 percent increase over last year, said Stephen Grundy, nutrition services director for Dayton Public Schools.

“For some, these are the only meals children receive during the school year, breakfast and lunch,” Grundy said. “And so being summer, with no school, this will provide them some type of nutrition and will serve as a meal, if not two meals, guaranteed.”

Continue reading: Demand for kids' discount lunch programs rising

Share this article