APPLETON (NBC26) — The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Fox Valley kicked off their annual Summer Food Service Program Monday.
The program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, provides free meals to children during the summer, when free and reduced-price school meals are sometimes less available.
Any child in the Appleton-Menasha area who is 18 years of age or younger is eligible for the program. Children can come to eat breakfast at the Boys & Girls Club from 8:30-9:30 a.m. or lunch from 11:30-12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
"We serve kids who need us most in the community," said Rachel Schroeder, the Senior Director of Youth Development Services. "The kids who may have different various challenges and things going on in their life and they come to hang out with us for the summer program and have a good time and we're able to give them those nutritious meals as well."
This year because of the pandemic, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Fox Valley has two meal programs going on at once. They also offer a curbside meal distribution program for families who are struggling.
"We serve about 4,000 meals a month currently," Schroeder said. "We were able to continue that through the summer at least and hopefully will be able to continue past that as well."
Anyone can come to the curbside pickup from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Monday and Thursday to receive seven pre-packaged meals to last them throughout the week. The Summer Food Service Program will continue until August 13th.
