CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga began its Free Summer Food Program for kids up to 18 years old in our area on Tuesday.
This is a way for us to provide a really critical resource for our community when kids aren’t in school. So normally, these kids might be receiving, you know, breakfast and lunch in their school during the school year, those resources don’t exist in the summer, said Paula Irwin, Branch Executive Director for the James A. Henry Community YMCA.
Children across Bradley, Hamilton, Polk, Rhea, Sequatchie counties, and Walker and Catoosa counties in North Georgia are eligible to participate in this first-come, first-serve meal program.
Volunteers and staff members at the J.A. Henry Community YMCA, prepare, pack and deliver 300,000 meals annually, and about 3,000 meals a day during the summer.
We’re a USDA funded program, so we add those components together with the entree. So we’ve got protein and vegetable and a fruit and a milk and a grain and every single one of those meals, and we send those out into the community. So we’re prepping all those meals here on site, said Irwin.
CARTA is also partnering with the Chattanooga Public Library for the Ride & Read program, which easily connects families to those meals.
We know that sometimes they have trouble getting to where we’re serving the food. And this year, you can go to any of the five library locations and get a free car to pass, meaning kids can ride the bus to any of our sites, said Irwin
The YMCA is also partnering with the city, Library and CARTA to provide approximately 1,500 five-day passes to the YMCA for children enrolled in Ride & Read.
This google document details the specific dates, times, locations, and what meals or snacks are available.
The summer food program runs until schools start back up in August.
The J.A. Henry Community YMCA is also looking for any volunteers to help pack meals. For more information, visit the website here.
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