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Cafeteria managers Dianna Bruns, left, and Nancy Hemmelgarn place food items in bags on Monday morning at Celina High School.
CELINA - It was back to school for cafeteria managers who clocked in at 6:30 a.m. Monday at Celina High School to prepare free breakfast and lunch meals for roughly 300 children.
Celina appears to be the only area school district participating in the federally-funded Summer Food Service Program, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture site finder.
Each Monday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in June at the high school, children 18 and under are eligible to pick up five days' worth of breakfast and lunch meals. Typically parents come to gather up the meals for their kids, the cafeteria workers pointed out.
No registration or application is required, noted superintendent Ken Schmiesing.
"When they come in they'll get enough for five days of food," said food manager Lynn Smith.
Those coming are asked to bring a bag or tote. They are directed to four stations where cafeteria managers hand out items based on the number of children receiving meals.
The free meals include fruit juice or milk.
Cafeteria managers opted to go with mostly prepackaged food for the breakfast and lunch meals, which require little to no preparation by a child. Some of the items include Smucker's Uncrustables, which are grape and strawberry sandwiches; ham-and-cheese sandwiches and Poptarts.
The four women also include items such as yogurt, fruits and vegetables, and cheese sticks. Each meal comes with milk or fruit juice.
"We're prepared for 275 (kids). If we have more then I will order more for next week," Smith said on Monday morning ahead of pick-up time.
SFSP is a USDA-funded, state-administered program that reimburses providers who serve free, nutritious meals and snacks to children and teens in low-income areas when school is not in session, according to USDA.
"We have been offering summer meals to our students over the past ten years," Schmiesing said. "When we offered this non-aggregate program in the past, we served 300 meals. We expect our numbers to be close to that level this summer as well."
The student poverty rate at Celina City Schools is 43%, which equates to over 1,100 students who qualify for free or reduced meals, Schmiesing said.
"For those in our community who have food insecurity, this program helps them immensely," he said.
Cafeteria mangers chose to go with many prepackaged foods that require little or no preparation by children.
In 2022, Ohio summer program sponsors served more than 4.9 million meals at more than 2,000 sites across the state, according to Ohio Department of Education,
"I think it's just great because the reward on this is the kids are getting fed," said Celina school food service manger Deb Schroyer a few years ago. "I think it's a great program. I'm glad we can do it."
Through the program, free meals are provided at schools, colleges and universities, nonprofit organizations, parks, camps, community centers, swimming pools, libraries, low-income housing complexes and more, according to ODE. Sponsoring organizations receive reimbursement to cover the costs of providing nutritious meals and snacks to children in eligible areas.
The only other providers of the meals in the region are First United Methodist Church in Van Wert and St. Paul United Church of Christ in Wapakoneta, according to the online site finder.
