Summer program helps feed low-income kids

SALT LAKE CITY — The white paper sacks meant chicken sandwiches, carrots, pretzels, apples and milk for the children who held them. For their mother, the sacks meant one less meal that needed to be factored into the weekly budget and a chance for her kids to make new friends.

Recently divorced and looking for work, Kris Minor brought her two children, Katie, 6, and Ben, 7, to Fairmont Park in Sugar House Tuesday where the Salt Lake City School District provides free lunch and breakfast daily for children 18 and younger as part of the federal Summer Food Service Program.

Minor, of Sugar House, said it's a great resource that is making an impact.

"Lunch stuff is what costs the most, really," Minor said as Ben rummaged through his bag. "Lunch meat and all the goodies they like to have."

There are about 215 sites throughout the state designed to ensure that children are getting proper nutrition this summer, despite economic hardships their parents face, said Charlene Allert, assistant director of child nutrition at the state office of education. Many of the locations, like the one at Fairmont Park, are in areas where 50 percent or more of children qualify for free meals during the school year.

In October 2009, 36.4 percent of students in Utah schools qualified for free lunch. That's up from 32.8 percent in October 2008, according to state statistics. The increase could be due to an increase in population, as well as more people struggling due to the economic downturn, Allert said.

Allert doesn't have data on the number of meals served statewide this summer, as it's only about a week into the program, but she predicts that just as more students qualified during the school year, more students will come out to eat during the summer.

Minor said that come fall, she'll apply for reduced or free lunch for her kids. The help it would provide would be "huge," she said.

Kelly Orton, director of child nutrition for the Salt Lake District, said he's already seen a marked uptick in meals served within his district. Last year at this time, the district served about 10,500 meals per day. This year, they're serving about 13,100.

"That's quite a jump," Orton said. "The resources that we have are being stretched right now. … We're scrambling to find food."