Mobile delivery added to district's summer meal program

The Kalispell Public Schools Food Service Department’s free summer meals program is planning to hit the road.

The department is moving forward with purchasing a food truck through a No Kid Hungry $15,000 grant to add mobile meal delivery to its free summer meals program. Plans are to have the food truck operating this summer.

The goal is to serve more youth in multiple locations around Kalispell where a lack of transportation may prevent kids from reaching sites where free breakfast and lunch are served.

“The greatest barrier is transportation, so we want to meet families where they’re at. We have working families, some of the students may be left at the house,” said Johnny Pena, an AmeriCorps VISTA member serving No Kid Hungry in Kalispell.

Woodland Park and Elrod Elementary have been mainstay locations for serving free breakfast and lunch since the school district began sponsoring sites in 2012 as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Summer Food Service Program.

“With the food truck we would try to do four quadrants of Kalispell,” said Jana Graham, Kalispell Public Schools food services director.

The Summer Food Service Program works to ensure that youth from low-income families and neighborhoods get nutritious meals when school is not in session. The program is open to youth 18 and under. No registration, proof of income or identification is required to participate. The school district receives federal and state reimbursement for the number of meals served.

In past years, meal sites have been located in areas near schools with the largest number of students eligible for free and reduced lunches. The number of students eligible for free and reduced meals in the school district is 2,245, or about 38 percent of total enrollment, according to Graham.

Last summer about 3,000 breakfasts and 7,800 lunches were served through Kalispell’s free summer meals program. Some of those meals were served to students in Kalispell Parks and Recreation camps.

Some sites have been changed over the years based on participation rates. Gateway Community Center was added this year, but it proved to be a challenge when it came to participation, according to Pena.

“That inspired this idea that maybe we should do this,” Pena said about the food truck.

In addition to serving meals, activities are offered at meal sites. The hope is to get more volunteers to lead activities for different age groups. Teenagers, for example, are a particularly tough age group to reach, possibly because of stigmas related to receiving food aid. Pena said he tries to combat this by teaching compassion, empathy and love for one another in presentations on childhood hunger.

“Students may be facing challenges or don’t know where their next meal is going to come from,” Pena said. “The goal is for kids to bring compassion to one another, to care for one another.”

This is not the first school-based summer meals program in Montana to go mobile.

Browning School District was one of the first to add a food truck to its free summer meals program in 2013. In recent years Great Falls and Billings school districts have also gone mobile.

When Lynne Keenan, Browning Public Schools food services director, joined the district about 17 years ago, she quickly realized that even though free summer meals were offered at school sites, a lack of transportation was a significant barrier to children. Many residences were spread out from each other, and miles from meal sites. Keenan said she often gathered up sack lunches that remained after serving times ended and drove them over to high-poverty areas. She knew the need was there and noticed a district-owned food truck previously used for concessions, was going unused. During a summit meeting in Helena she was connected with No Kid Hungry and learned about available grant funding. With the approval of the administration, the food truck was added to the summer meals program.

“Two years later we took a bus that was being depreciated. We took all the seats out of it and then we put long counters on each side with benches in the back and put in a salad bar,” Keenan said.

The food truck stops for a few hours at various sites, such as a skate park where tables are set up and an awning provides shade, and is followed by a mobile library. The bus also visits some rural or isolated areas.

“Maybe we’re not getting that many kids, but we’re getting kids very much in need,” Keenan said about the bus stops.

Starting any meal program or altering it is a learning experience in figuring out how much food to prepare and at what times. Keenan said maintaining a staff over the summer to prepare meals has been a challenge. She also recommended that school districts tap FoodCorps members to lead activities.

“You have to market the program to families, kids and staff. You have to constantly, constantly make families aware that these sites are open and how you can get to them,” Keenan said.

To volunteer in leading activities or for more information, contact Graham at 406-751-3636 or grahamj@sd5.k12.mt.us. Donations toward startup costs associated with the food truck purchase may be sent to the Food Service Central Kitchen, Kalispell Public Schools, 106 Northwest Lane, Kalispell, MT 59901.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.