School may be out, but meal time is still a staple of activity at Iola High School. With a variety of items on the menu, USD 257’s summer meal program is kicking off its 2012 schedule.
Any Iolans who are hungry can come by each weekday to enjoy a meal they might not otherwise get.
“It’s an important program that the district is happy to offer,” said Brian Pekarek, USD 257 superintendent. “We want to make sure no child is slipping through the cracks if we can help it.”
The program acts as part of a child safety net for Iola.
“This is our 10th year,” Colleen Riebel, director of food services at USD 257, said. “The whole reason we do this is to provide an opportunity for kids to keep getting the food they need.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website, one of the biggest roadblocks to a child being able to achieve in school is the period of time when school isn’t in session. This time period can be critical in an area such as Iola where 63 percent of the student population is classified as living below the poverty level by the federal government.
“A lot of these kids are growing up in hunger,” Riebel said. “This might be the only thing that is keeping them from starving.”
The program also goes beyond school aged children. Organizations such as SAFE BASE, another USD 257 program, use the meal program to help supplement their own activities.
“Those kids are going to get a nutritional meal that actually uses some food items from our garden spaces,” Riebel said. “A lot of what they’ll learn this year in SAFE BASE, we’re doing here at the school also so it’s going to be a good tie-in for them.”
Many of the dishes on menu are familiar to students who eat at school during the rest of the year. According to Riebel, some of the district favorites will be on tap.
“The kids love the pizza,” Riebel said. “That and the cheeseburger mac and teriyaki chicken are big hits with them.”
In terms of attendance, Riebel and Marsha Frederick, assistant director of food services at USD 257, think that as the summer goes on the numbers will rise. According to Frederick, Monday numbers were average for the program’s launch with 110 showing up for breakfast while more than 200 ate lunch.
The program, which is funded by money that comes through the Kansas State Department of Education and the USDA, runs from June 4 to July 27 but will be closed July 4, 5 and 6. Anyone can eat at the high school, however anyone 18 years or older must pay $2 for breakfast and $3 for lunch. Breakfast is served from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and lunch is at 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more details or information call 620-365-4700.
