Summer free lunch program to continue

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- School may be out for the summer but school lunches are still available.

The Zanesville City Schools are providing a free lunch program for students ages 18 and under. The 9-week program runs from June 5th to August 4th and is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“USDA is the sponsor of the program they set up all of our rules and regulations that we have to follow, one of which you have to be here on site. The other one is we have to have someone, an adult or a responsible student on site as well while they here and they pick up after they’re done and make sure the park is all cleaned up,” said Vicki Wheeler, Zanesville City School food service director.

The summer food service program was created to ensure that children continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. All as an effort to make sure that no child goes hungry over the summer.

“We know that a lot of kids have parents working or grandma or grandpa they live with that can’t get up and get them something to eat but if they know that this is available, you see people dropping their kids off and coming back and getting them, then otherwise they wouldn’t have lunch, in some places we serve breakfast so they wouldn’t have breakfast as well,” said Wheeler.

There are 20 locations around Zanesville that the program can be found at throughout the week, and are as follows:

The meals are available at no cost to any child 18 or under. For those with disabilities, the meals are available up to 22-years-old. The meals are served rain or shine.