During the summer of 2016 , the Keystone Oaks School District provided 12,000 free lunches to children and that number could go even higher next summer .
The summer lunch program at Keystone Oaks began in 2015 and the school district provided about 6,000 bagged lunches the first year . Any child under age 18 can receive a bagged lunch , even if they don ’ t live in the Keystone Oaks area . The Pennsylvania Department of Education and the U . S . Department of Agriculture fund the program .
Kevin Lloyd , food service director for the school district , says he was surprised and pleased that more children participated in the summer lunch program in 2016 . “ Never in a million years did we expect this kind of growth , but it was a nice surprise and we were prepared to deal with it ,” says Lloyd .
Lloyd thinks the increase in demand was due to better awareness of the program as well as willingness to participate . During the school year , families who qualify for free or reduced lunches often insist on paying for meals because they don ’ t want to accept government benefits . “ People shy away from it because they don ’ t want to be labeled as being needy ,” Lloyd says .
Nevertheless , many families rely on free lunches during the school year and that need doesn ’ t go away during the summer . Before the summer lunch program began in 2015 , children from financially challenged families in the Keystone Oaks area were not eating properly during the summer .
“ Now these families are able to maintain a healthy diet year-round ,” Lloyd says .
He feels that part of the increase in demand for summer lunches may be due to the fact that there are more financially challenged families in the area , but thinks most of it is due to the fact that families are more willing to participate . Supervisors and staff developed relationships with children during the summer and encouraged them to publicize the program by word of mouth .
Every day , food service workers and supervisors started to prepare lunches at 6 a . m . and began delivering them at 10:30 a . m . The bagged lunches included a sandwich , healthy snacks , milk , fruit and vegetables . Children could choose from five or six different sandwiches every day and eat something different every day of the week .
The school district distributed lunches at six locations , including Keystone Oaks High School , Castle Shannon Library and at recreation programs in Dormont and Green Tree . Each day , about 300 meals were prepared and there were very few left over .
“ The staff is skilled and highly trained , so they have it down to a science ,” says Lloyd .
Although it ’ s still early , the number of locations might expand in the summer of 2017 . The school district has partnered with the Castle Shannon Library and other groups to organize activities and games for the children who needed a free lunch during the summer . Lloyd would like to offer more activities in the summer of 2017 so the program doesn ’ t become mundane .
The program has received a lot of positive feedback . Children enjoy the variety of sandwiches from which they can choose and look forward to lunch every day . Lloyd hopes more schools will participate in the summer lunch program in the future because more than 140,000 children in southwestern Pennsylvania qualify for free or reduced lunch programs . n
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Never in a million years did we expect this kind of growth . But it was a nice surprise and we were prepared to deal with it .
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Keystone Oaks | Winter 2016 | icmags . com 21