Centre County YMCA has a new way to get meals to kids this summer. ‘More tools to help’
Driving down U.S Route 220 this summer, it would be hard to miss the line of cars snaking out of Wingate Elementary’s parking lot every Monday, all waiting to collect meals for summer lunches.
This year, rather than having families stop by every day for a meal, the Centre County YMCA’s summer lunch program provides families with a week’s worth of ingredients and lunch items. Mel Curtis, director of the Centre County YMCA’s anti-hunger programs, said the new setup is more convenient for families, making the program more accessible.
“Parents can’t get kids in every day,” Curtis said. “So if you do a bulk distribution, they have to be here one time.”
Starting at noon on Monday, Curtis and YMCA volunteers passed out eggs, milk, string cheese, cereal and fresh fruit, along with elk meat donated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. This week, they were joined by Deputy Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cindy Long and U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Howard, who stopped by the distribution to speak with volunteers and help pass out meals.
Long said that in previous years, only one in six students on free or reduced lunch plans was reached by food assistance programs in the summertime. It’s a statistic both the USDA and local Centre County programs are trying to improve.
“We feed 30 million kids on an average day at school, and then suddenly, when school closes there’s a whole lot of families that don’t know how they’re going to make up for that,” Long said. “Now we have more tools to help address that with programs like this one, run here by the YMCA, and you can stop and see how these families are getting the support and not having to worry about that.”
Curtis said about 300 families would be helped during the distribution on Monday.
Thompson, a Bald Eagle Area graduate, said he was happy to see the program both as a local resident and as a political supporter of the program.
“I supported them in getting the Traveling Table through USDA Rural Economic Development,” Thompson said. “The programs that you see are really authorized through my committees as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and senior member of Education and Labor and are appropriated through Congress. So it’s great to see it on the ground.”
Along with the food distribution was a mock farmers market, where children were given $10 in “Y Bucks” to be able to choose their own fresh fruits and vegetables. Curtis said the market gives kids an opportunity to make their own decisions and allows children to “shop” with their families during the distribution.
To register for the summer lunch program, families can fill out the application on the YMCA website and register with their child’s school. Each distribution box contains five days worth of breakfast and lunch food per child, with the last distributions held Aug. 11-12.
“The neat thing about the summer program is it’s open to all school-age children, there’s no income guidelines for everything else,” Curtis said. “Things are tough, food prices are high, and this is where to help you out as a family.”
The new distribution system is expected to continue next year as a way to make the program more accessible to families and those facing food insecurity.
This story was originally published August 6, 2024 at 3:17 PM.