Nourishing meals can be hard to come by, especially when school is out for the summer. Parents and guardians who enjoy the convenience of having two meals available for their children on weekdays during the school year can be left scrambling in the summer. The Bryant School District is helping to alleviate this struggle by providing free meals to youths, ages 18 and younger, through its Summer Food Program.
Devin Sherrill, communications director for the school district, reiterated how this program helps families who are used to meal services during the scholastic year transition into summer.
“Many parents depend on school programs for healthy meals and struggle in the summer to meet their children’s nutritional needs,” Sherrill said. “Some families also receive assistance through food backpack programs.
All of this goes away when school is out for the summer. We want to continue offering nutritional meals for these children and others in the community.”
The meals will be offered at the Boys & Girls Club of Bryant, 6401 Boone Road, and the Boys & Girls Club of Shannon Hills, 12001 County Line Road in Alexander. Sherrill said anyone within the age perimeter is welcome to take part in this program.
“No one has to qualify or sign up to attend. All they have to do is come hungry,” she said.
The program runs Monday through Friday from June 6 to July 1 and from July 11 to Aug. 5.
Meals will not be served the week of July 4-8. Breakfast is served from 7:30-9 a.m., and lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The program was developed by Gay Sellers, the district’s former child-nutrition director, Sherrill said. Sellers worked with Suzanne Passmore,
executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Bryant, to implement the initiative. During the school year, about 3,650 students qualified for free or reduced-price meals, Sherrill said, adding that the purpose of the Summer Food Program is to provide meals when the traditional school meals are no longer available.
The school district served about 300 children last summer at Bryant Elementary School and the Boys & Girls Club of Bryant, Sherrill said. Officials expect to feed about 150 additional students this year, with the added location of Davis Elementary School, where the Shannon Hills Boys & Girls Club is located.
Students attending the Boys & Girls Club summer programs already receive two meals per day, Sherrill said, noting that children coming just to eat won’t have to worry about standing out among their peers. All children who are at these sites at the designated times will eat free, Sherrill said, “so there is no distinction made among anyone.”