Submitted article
Recent funding from Governor John R. Kasich will provide meals to some of Ohio’s most at-risk children, including more than 600 children served by the Bucyrus City Schools Food Services department. In partnership with the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, the Bucyrus City Schools Food Services department is providing take-home weekend meals for children attending local Summer Food Service Program sites.
“We are extremely grateful for Governor Kasich’s hard work and support, as well as First Lady Karen W. Kasich’s recognition of the importance of good nutrition for Ohio’s children,” Bucyrus City Schools Food Services Manager Lorie Pennington said. “We are excited about what this program means for children and families who normally rely on school meals during the school year.”
The Bucyrus City Schools is one of 24 organizations selected to participate in the summer weekend meals program. Children who receive a free meal at any of the weekly lunch sites throughout the summer will receive a weekend meal package.
“Ohio’s children deserve a healthy start in life. Preventing hunger and malnutrition supports them in having a healthy childhood and becoming healthy adults,” First Lady Karen W. Kasich said. “Maintaining children’s nutrition in the summer months is crucial to their ability to be focused learners when they return to school in the fall.”
In Ohio, 44 percent of children live in families poor enough to qualify for free or reduced price school meals. According to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity, more than one in four Ohio children do not always know where their next meal will come from. While the federal Summer Food Service Program provides summer meals for children at congregate sites during the week, those sites are normally closed on the weekend and are not permitted to provide food for consumption at home. The summer weekend meals program is intended to provide shelf-stable, kid-friendly meals—including two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners—so that children have food over the weekend.
“We take pride in this strong public-private partnership with Governor Kasich, the First Lady, the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, the State of Ohio and organizations like the Bucyrus City Schools,” Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks said. “Their hard work and continued recognition of the value that access to nutritious food plays in our state’s ability to prevent costly healthcare and educational expenses is generous, insightful and timely,”
For more information about the Summer Food Service Programs in Bucyrus and Galion, or the Weekend Meal Program, please contact Lorie Pennington at 419-562-5355 or email lpennington@bucyrusschools.org.