Jefferson Schools keeping students fed for the summer

On Wednesdays from 1-2 p.m. Jefferson Schools will hand out free meal packs to children during the summer through August 28. The meal packs include seven complete breakfasts and lunches to keep kids going throughout the week.

The weekly giveaway is part of the Meet Up Eat Up program through the Michigan Department of Education. However, most giveaways under this program require the children to stay and eat a single meal on-site, not allowing them to take anything home. Since Jefferson Schools is classified as a rural non-congregate school, they can avoid this restriction and hand out food to take home.

“We think we’re very fortunate because we’re allowed to give a seven-day pack to not just our students, but to anyone in the community,” said Jennifer Raymond-Brown, the food and nutrition director for Jefferson Schools.

The only qualification needed to get these packs is to be a student under the age of 18. Even without serving up meals for the adults, though, Raymond-Brown and her team of volunteers find themselves holding empty boxes every Wednesday.

“We’ve been running out (of food) every week, so we’ve upped it every week,” she said. This was after the giveaway on July 3, when they gave out close to 450 seven-day packs.

This isn’t the first time Jefferson Schools have done something like this. During COVID, they were able to give children five-day packs as they learned remotely. And as long as the MDE continues to offer the Meet Up Eat Up program Raymond-Brown says they’ll continue doing it.

“I think it really helps families,” she said. “Not just our low-income families, it helps all families. Those grocery bills are outrageous.”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Jefferson Schools keeping students fed for the summer