By Jess Paniszczyn

Summer brings its own set of challenges to parents. As soon as he school is over, parents become part-time chefs and social secretaries constantly providing kids with healthy snacks and meals as well as entertainment. Luckily two local programs offer kids nutritious meals and opportunities to gather with friends, while giving the parents’ wallets a much needed break.

During the week, IISD Food Service Department provides free breakfasts and lunches to kids 18 and under.

“The Irving school district participates in the Seamless Summer Feeding Program, which is offered by the USDA and administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture,” Michael Rosenberger, IISD Food Service’s Director, said. “It allows us to provide meals at no charge for students.

“Our average daily participation is between three and four thousand. That is about equal to what we did last year. We haven’t seen a huge increase, but we haven’t see a drop either.

“We don’t want students going hungry during the summer. Households are paying four dollars a gallon for gas, prices are going through the roof, and something has got to give in peoples’ budgets. The summer food program provides breakfasts and lunches at no charge for children up to 18 years old. So these households, as we all are, that are negatively impacted by rising energy costs, food costs, and everything else have somewhere to turn for two healthy, nutritious, balanced meals every day. That is a pretty good deal.

“We like to feed people for free. If you are 18 or younger, you eat for free. There are no forms to fill out, no paperwork, no application, nothing. There is no money, no student I.D. required, no account number, no credit cards. All you do is show up and we supply you with a complete breakfast or lunch. It is the easiest, fastest, most convenient food service program that there is.

“Parents can also get a breakfast or lunch, but they have to pay $2.50 for lunch and $1.50 for breakfast. Still, that is a bargain. What we hope is that more students and families will participate.”

Currently, the Irving school district is required by law to provide summer meals.

“The Texas legislature mandates participation in the Summer Foodservice Program for school districts with at least 60% of average daily attendance eligible for free and reduced price meals. So if you are a school district with 60% of your students economically disadvantaged, you have to offer this program. If your school district does not have 60% of their students economically disadvantaged, the program is optional. Seventy-three percent of the students who attend Irving ISD are economically disadvantaged,”

Mr. Rosenberger said. “Honestly, even if we were not required to have this program, we would provide it. It is good for the community. It is good for children. It is the right thing to do. It is part of being a good neighbor and a good community partner,”

Twenty-five schools began participating in the program the week after the end of school. The 20 elementary schools will stop serving meals on July 2, and middle schools will stop serving meals on July 3. After the first week in July until Aug. 1, Irving High School will be the only IISD campus offering the program.

“Different campuses have different durations of their programs. As long as their programs are running, we are serving breakfast and lunch,” Mr. Rosenberger said.

“School starts on Aug. 25. So they have three weeks between the end of Summer Feeding Program and the start of the school year. Currently we don’t have a school site to keep feeding students beyond Aug. 1.

“We would like to find a partner in the community that could supply a location so we could continue to serve students. But we have not been able to find that partner yet. If there was a place we could take breakfast to, open it up to the public and everyone could come and eat, then a couple of hours later we bring lunch, we would do that. We just don’t have that location yet. That would be nice.

“The ideal would be to run the program from the last day of school until the first day of school. That is a longer term goal of ours,” he said. To find out more information about this program, serving times and participating campuses, visit www.irvingisd.net/foodservices/.  If air hockey, basketball and acting are just as important to your youngster as lunch, check out the free lunch program offered at Georgia Farrow, Senter and Lee Recreation Centers. For the past three years, these recreation centers have partnered with Touch of Faith to provide nutritious lunches to kids younger than 18 years of age.

“The free lunch program is a great, great program for Irving,” Joseph Moses, Georgia Farrow’s Recreation Center Supervisor. “We have a lot of kids who are home alone during the summer months, because both their parents have to work. Many of those kids are in that funny age where they are not grown, but they are too old for child care or summer camp. Some of those kids will stay at home and play video games, then go to the recreation centers, meet up with their friends and play basketball. You don’t want those kids trying to cook at home. And it is expensive trying to feed a teenager fast food every day, which is what they are going to eat.

“This way, they are getting a nutritious lunch, fruits, juices, milk, cold cuts, every day in a safe environment. It is basic stuff that every kid eats: ham sandwiches, baloney sandwiches, turkey sandwiches. All anyone under the age of 18 needs to do is come to the recreation center during the week at our serving times between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and we will give them a lunch.

“It is a quick, easy way for kids to get a meal. No money is required. They just show up and we feed them. Georgia Farrow serves about 50 lunches a day.”

The program strives to ensure youngsters eat nutritious meals.

“A lot of people want to associate a lunch program with low income. It is not that type of program. It has nothing to do with your economic  income, status, race or where you live. It is a nutrition program for kids during the summer months,” Mr. Moses said.

“Parents can’t eat, but they can come. To participate, you have to be under the age of 18. The program will continue until right before the kids go back to school.