PARMA, Ohio — The last school bell has rung, which means for some children food insecurity increases during the summer months.
That’s why the Parma City School District is once again partnering with the Cleveland Food Bank to provide a free summer lunch for all children ages 1-18.
“Partnering with the Cleveland Food Bank, we’re feeding students at four of our schools,” Parma City School District Nutrition Services Supervisor Emily Gladish said.
“They bring the food in and our role is to just kind of oversee the program. We don’t have any food cost associated with it anymore. All the funding goes to the Food Bank.”
The program runs from 11:30 a.m. to noon June 23 through July 31 at various locations.
This includes from June 23 through July 31 at Ridge-Brook Elementary School (7915 Manhattan Ave.), from June 30 through July 17 at Pleasant Valley Elementary School (9906 Pleasant Valley Road), from June 30 through July 24 at Greenbriar Middle School (11810 Huffman Road) and from June 23 through July 31 at John Muir Elementary School (5531 W. 24th St.).
“We usually try to pick schools that are on opposite ends of Parma,” she said.
“We also go to the areas with the highest needs.”
No registration is required. Meals must be eaten on-site.
“The menu is online through the Cleveland Food Bank and it’ll be posted at each site,” she said.
“It’s a cold meal that’s going to come with fruits, vegetables, milk and a main entrée, so it could be a sandwich or peanut butter and jelly.”
Something different this year due to federal funding cuts is the summer meal program won’t include AmeriCorp or FoodCorp members having fun activities planned for kids.
“Hopefully, we can figure something out for next year,” she said.
Something else that may be looked at next year is the summer lunch program itself.
Gladish said participation has drastically dropped since the pandemic.
“Pre-Covid, we used to have hundreds of families showing up, and now we were lucky if we get 20,” she said.
“I’m not sure if this year will be different, given maybe people’s situations at home and everything kind of going on in the world.”
For more information about the free summer lunch program, call 440-842-2162.
Read more news from the Parma Sun Post here.
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