While most children wait all school year for summer to roll around and offer them sunshine and freedom, the months of June, July and August can be difficult for children who rely on school lunches to keep them fed.
To help those children, programs like the Cassopolis “Meet Up and Eat Up” program exist.
Cassopolis Public Schools’ free summer meal program “Meet Up and Eat Up” will enter its 10th year of service beginning in July. The program runs throughout the summer and provides children with healthy, hot meals at different locations throughout Cassopolis.
“This program is awesome for kids in the summertime,” said Food Service Director for Cassopolis Public Schools Robyn Bright. “They can just come and get a free meal. There is no application. It is open to all kids.”
The program is open to children up to the age of 18, and individuals with physical or mental handicaps up to the age of 26.
Bright said the summer meal program is simply an extension of what the food services program does for Cassopolis students during the school year, and proves that they do everything in their power to care for children year-round.
“When I first went to the school board and the superintendent to start this program, I said, ‘You know, we serve our students all year long. What about the students who need it in the summer months?’” Bright said. “I asked them if I could apply for this and get my [food service] sites approved, and they were 110 percent on board.”
Since then, the program has proved a success and has been running for 10 summers, making it one of the longest running summer meal programs in the area.
Bright attributes some of the success of the program to advertising food services does both in the schools and in the community.
“We have a really good relationship with the kids throughout the year, and we make sure they know the summer meal program is going to be happening before school gets out,” Bright said. “The kids come back every year.”
The need for summer meal programs for students is nationwide, Bright said. She is excited to see more school districts in the area are beginning to develop their own programs.
“All the research we’ve seen shows us there is a great need for this,” Bright said. “Kids can’t learn if they are hungry.”
Bright chose this year’s “Meet Up and Eat Up” locations strategically in order to reach the greatest number of children possible.
Dates, locations and times for the summer meals are as follows:
Brookside Learning Center, 61622 Dailey Road, will serve breakfast from 9 to 9:30 a.m. and lunch noon to 12:30 p.m. on July 17, July 18, July 24, July 25, July 31, Aug. 1, Aug. 7, Aug. 8, Aug. 14 and Aug. 15.
The Cass County Library, 319 M62, will serve lunch from noon to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday July 10-27 and Aug. 7-24.
Sam Adams Elementary School, 112 S. Depot St., will serve lunch from 1 to 1:30 p.m. July 10-27. On Aug. 7-24, the school will serve both breakfast, from 9 to 9:30 a.m., and lunch from 1 to 1:30 p.m.
The John B. Cooper Building in Vandalia will serve lunch from 1 to 1:30 p.m. July 10-27 and Aug. 7-24.
The Cassopolis School District will have a “Meet Up and Eat Up” tent at the Cass County Fair serving breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. July 31 through Aug. 5.
For more “Meet Up and Eat Up” meal locations in the state, visit the “Meet Up and Eat Up” locator page on the Michigan Department of Education’s website.