North Greene Summer Lunch Program starting soon
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By Carmen Ensinger
The end of school is near and that means one thing – the start of the North Greene Summer Lunch Program. The lunch program is open to any student in the North Greene School District.
The program will run 10 weeks beginning June 6 and running through Aug. 12 and lunches will be made available Monday through Friday at several different locations throughout the North Greene district.
“Since the pandemic began, the Summer Lunch Program has incurred a drop in its food supplies,” Summer Lunch Program Committee Member Shari Axley said. “Thankfully, the North Greene Food Pantry has been able to come to our aid and provide a large amount of what is served to the children.”
The Food Pantry is a big part of the Summer Lunch Program, both directly and indirectly. The Food Pantry receives the food it hands out to people from the Central Illinois Food Bank in Springfield. They have been kind enough to pick up the food for the Summer Lunch Program when they go up to pick up the supplies for the Food Bank.
“We can’t thank Rich and Judy Caskey enough for everything they do to help with this program,” Axley said. “We have also secured assistance from DOT Foods to help with things but we would love to have more access to fresh fruit and vegetables for the children. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to contact us on Facebook.”
Each week, a different church or organization in the North Greene area is in charge of coming in and making the lunches. All of the lunches are made in the basement of Calvary Baptist Church in White Hall. Church or organization members then deliver the meals to the various locations.
These locations include: White Hall: Lincoln Street Housing at 11:45 a.m. and Whiteside Park at noon. Roodhouse: Greene County Housing at the end of Lorton St. at 11:45 a.m. and City Park (Roodhouse Square) at noon. Patterson: Post Office at 11:45 a.m. near the restaurant. Hillview Park at 12:15 p.m., near the restaurant.
The program is in need of volunteers, committee members and donations to keep it going strong.
“Please consider volunteering and/or donating to this wonderful program,” Axley said. “This is a vital program that meets a very important need in our communities.”
