Just because the school year ends does not mean that disadvantaged students nationwide no longer need school lunches for sustenance. This is where the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program steps in and enables districts to deliver summer meals via school bus.
SFSP provides free, nutritious meals and snacks to help children in low-income areas get the nutrition they need to learn, play, and grow, throughout the summer months when they are out of school, according to the organization’s website.
“SFSP provides an opportunity to continue a child’s physical and social development while providing nutritious meals during long vacation periods from school. It helps children return to school ready to learn,” the website states.
In Hernando County, Fla., the Cruisin’ Café (pictured above) provides healthy free meals for children ages 2 to 18 thanks to a school bus that has been converted into a diner on wheels. The stylish bus sports a green and white umbrella, an emblem of summer, as it welcomes kids to climb aboard and enjoy two meals a day five days a week. Breakfast and lunch is being served at various locations on weekdays through Aug. 9.
Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Ky., is also participating in the USDA Summer Food Service Program. On June 12 the district unveiled its first Bus Stop Café — a school bus outfitted with a kitchen, cooler, tables and chairs. Children participating in YMCA’s Child Enrichment Program at Doss High School were the first customers to dine at the bus’ shiny purple counters.
The Bus Stop Café will travel to several neighborhoods to deliver prepared lunches, free of charge, to children 18 years of age and younger. The JCPS transportation department donated the bus, and the district began $48,000 in renovations in March, wrapping it up at the end of May.
Though the program is designed to reach the 67 percent of JCPS students currently on a free- or reduced-lunch meal plan, Julia O. Bauscher, director of JCPS Community Nutritional Services, said no child will be turned away.
“We want to feed as many mouths as possible,” she shared.
Bauscher added that she got the idea after learning about a similar summer-meals program at Denver (Colo.) Public Schools.
Funded by the USDA School Meals Program, the DPS Summer Feeding Program is based on the district’s vision to, “Feed Every Child Every Day.” The free meal program serves nutritious meals at more than 35 sites to all children at no charge, regardless of income, race or religion.
“Our goal is to increase our Summer Feeding Program by 10%, to serve over 6,000 each day,” states the DPS website.
In Washington State, Federal Way Public Schools rolled out three bright-green retrofitted school buses named FRED decorated with a friendly frog (pictured below) to bring lunch to the roughly 12,000 children who qualify. The FRED buses (FRED stands for “Fun, Read, Eat, Dream”) represent the summer meals program the district has provided since 1989.
In addition to hot and cold meals, the buses will be stocked with books, math games, board games, computers with Wi-Fi access, and caring adults, noted the district.
“We often ask our staff to think outside of the box when it comes to serving the community’s children, and they have outdone themselves with FRED,” said FWPS Superintendent Rob Neu.
