Summer meal programs feed hungry kids

o Kids ages 1 through 18.

o Monday through Friday.

o No registration required.

o Statewide meal sites: More than 950.

o Clark County meal sites: More than 30.

o Funded by grant from U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Kalahan kids sat around a table in the Fruit Valley Elementary School cafeteria eating lunch Wednesday.

Chance, 8, had devoured his fruit salad, but his spaghetti with meat sauce seemed untouched. Spencer, 10, ate every bite of his spaghetti, but didn’t eat his fruit salad. Their sister, Ashton, 12, had eaten her spaghetti and green salad and was still working on her fruit salad. She said they live in the neighborhood and plan to eat lunch at the school cafeteria every weekday during the summer.

On their way to the school, they had stopped to pick up their buddy, Abraham Ramirez, 10, who had cleaned his plate.

“It’s awesome! I like the tropical fruit,” he said with enthusiasm.

The free lunch provided to kids weekdays this summer in the Fruit Valley cafeteria is sponsored by Educational Service District 112.

The meals are part of the Summer Food Service Program, a federally funded, state-administered program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program ensures that low-income children ages 1 to 18 continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. The USDA reimburses providers who serve healthy meals to children and teens in low-income areas at no charge. Nationwide this summer, USDA plans to serve more than 200 million free meals to youth 18 years and younger at schools, parks and community centers.

Some sites provide breakfast, while others provide lunch. Some provide both. Some provide a snack. Some sites have supervised activities.

All of the sites focus on providing healthy meals including fresh fruits and vegetables.

There are more than 950 summer meal sites in the state and more than 30 sites in Clark County. To find meal site locations, families can call the family food hotline, 1-888-4-FOOD-WA.

Share is one of the biggest providers of summer meal sites locally. From June 29 to Aug. 14, Share’s program will provide more than 27,000 free meals to kids at more than 20 locations throughout Clark County.

“For too many kids from low-income families, summer isn’t a time of vacations and backyard barbecues. It’s a time of hunger,” said Diane McWithey, executive director of Share.

For every kid who eats at a summer meals site, another six kids don’t sit down at the table and miss out, she said.

The summer meals program works with the help of an army of volunteers who serve the meals in the various sites. For the meals sites it administers, Share requires a minimum of 20 volunteers a day, said Dellan Redjou, director of volunteers at Share.

“People can volunteer as much or as little as they wish. They can volunteer for even one day if they want to,” she said.

To volunteer for Share’s summer meal program, email volunteers@sharevancouver.org or call Redjou at 360-952-8228.

“Wednesdays we serve hot lunches,” said Terri Tanner, who supervises the program at Fruit Valley. She works for Children Northwest, a program of ESD 112.

Tanner scooped spaghetti and meat sauce onto the red lunch trays in the Fruit Valley cafeteria Wednesday. On Tuesday, the first day, about 30 kids showed up to eat. She said the biggest obstacle is getting the word out about the free meals for kids. No registration is required. No kids are turned away.

After the meal was cleared away, Brenda Harrison of Washington State University Extension taught a healthy cooking class to parents in the neighborhood. Parents who attend the class will receive kitchen tools including measuring cups and spoons, a meat thermometer and more. Parents who take the class then receive a bag of food for their family.

Only two moms attended the first class.

The biggest challenge is “just getting the word out. Getting the families to participate,” Tanner said.