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Summer food programs to provide meals for local kids

Sun, 06/05/2016 - 5:26 am
newsdesk@grahamleader.com

The Healthy Summer Meals for Kids program through the Graham Independent School District followed by the Our Daily Bread program by the First United Methodist Church in Graham will offer meal options throughout the summer for kids and adults who need them.

The Healthy Summer Meals Program is for just children age 18 and under and takes place from June 3-27. Breakfast is served at Crestview Elementary1317 Old Jacksboro Road, from 7:30 to 8 a.m. and then lunch is served from 11:30 a.m. to noon. 

“We feed at that site because they do a lot of ESL, English as a second language, there, and there are a lot of children that are already coming to that school for that Summer training,” said GISD Food Services Director Jodi Arispe. “Since we are already there and we need to feed those children, then we go ahead and open up that site for the public.”

Arispe said the staff usually prepares for around 50 kids to attend the meal program. The program is funded by the school, and then the Texas Department of Agriculture reimburses the school for the money spent. 

“It does cost us more than what we receive to run the program because I have to pay two employees, besides the food costs,” Arispe said.

There are no qualifications for the program, according to Arispe, except for the child to be 18 or younger. The program is to help children through the summer to be supplied with a healthy meal after school lets out.

“The program is for children to continue to get healthy meals through the summer when school stops; they can get meals,” she said. “A lot of children are home alone, and there may not be a lot in their refrigerator for them to eat.”

Along with the program being based and funded through the Texas Department of Agriculture, the program is also mandated to follow the nutritional guidelines and standards set for schools. Arispe set up a nutritionally balanced meal plan for all the students who will participate in the program.

“You can’t just feed them anything; you have nutritional guidelines and menus that have to qualify,” Arispe said.

Students who attend the meals are not required to have a parent, but if a parent does accompany a child and they want to eat, they will have to pay a normal lunch fee. For more information on the program, call Arispe at 940-549-4011.

After the GISD food program wraps up on June 27, the Our Daily Bread program from First United Methodist Church welcomes all community members, children and adults, to visit the church’s McCree Hall for a free hot lunch and take home sandwich supper. That program will begin on July 5 and continue through Aug. 12. Meals will be served at 11:30 a.m.

The program started in 2010, according to Brownen Choate, who began the program and still oversees its operations.  

“I kept hearing verses at church about feeding the poor, taking care of your brother, and then there was one in James about faith without works is nothing. And it was kind of like water dripping on a rock, and finally I went ‘I get it, I get it, I get it,’” she said about why she started the program.

Choate approached her pastor, Richard Reed, at FUMC and asked if he they could start a program for students after the school meal program ends in the summer. Since there was no money in the budget for the program, it would all have to be out of pocket, Reed told Choate, but that didn’t stop those interested in stepping forward.  

“All of a sudden, random people in the church would come up to me and say, ‘If you want to do this, then we will find a way to do it,’” Choate said.

The program has been running ever since through private donations and 25-30 volunteers from around the community who help serve and prepare food. Choate said the event is not limited to just the church but is a community-wide program to help everyone.

“It’s not just a Methodist thing; it’s a community thing,” she said. “It was never meant to just be a Methodist thing.”

The program began by just allowing children to come but later allowed parents and then all adults to have meals. In the beginning, the program had about 25 participants and now has up to 100 that show up each day. Choate said it’s the community environment that brings them back.

“I think that if you talked to the people that they would say that it’s because we really care about them, it not just that we are slinging hash for them, you know,” she said. “We feed at 11:30, but I promise you there are people there at 9:30 because it’s a cool place; it’s got air conditioning, which a lot of their homes do not have and it’s just a nice environment.

“We will give them something to drink,  and we have games that they can play, some of the older come and play checkers and chess and all of that kind of stuff,” she continued. “I think it’s a safe environment for them. They know that when they get there we do Bible studies. We have activities for the kids a couple days a week; we have a big pavilion.” 

Unlike the school program, the church program is not under any state mandated guidelines for nutrition. According to Choate, the meal will be full course, and a portion of the meal will come from the FUMC garden produce. 

“We have a lot of good produce, and it’s a complete meal. One of our meals will be chicken tenders, real mashed potatoes; we always have a salad bar, so it’s good. It’s a hot meal, and as long as we have got food, they can have it,” Choate said. “If there is enough for seconds, they can have seconds.”

Along with the meal they have at the hall, those who attend will also be able to get a sandwich meal, which includes two sandwiches, chips, fresh fruit and a small dessert.

“So, essentially, if they save their dessert they can have three meals out of that, it’s a whole day thing,” she said.

Transportation is offered for free by the church for those who can’t make the trip to McCree Hall themselves. To arrange for transportation, the church asks that those interested to call the church office at 940-549-0970, 24 hours in advance.

“We run usually two buses a day to go pick up people, which include the elderly,” Choate said.

According to Choate no government forms are necessary for the program, but they do have medical form and a travel permission forms that they allow kids to fill out if they go on end of the year trips with the church. 

Both Choate and Arispe communicate at the end of the year so they can schedule when to start their programs and when to end them so the other organization can take up the reins for the rest of the summer.

“We do that on purpose because we are trying to feed the community, and we are trying to get our program to pick them up and take care of them for this amount of time, and then the Methodist church wants to step in and pick them up the rest of the time till school starts,” Arispe said.