Meet Up and Chow Down returns June 3rd

IRON RANGE—United Way of Northeastern Minnesota (UWNEMN)’s free summer lunch program, Meet Up and Chow Down, will once again provide free lunches to all children under age 18 at the following locations starting June 3:

Biwabik City Park

Chisholm Kiwanis Park

Cook Public Library

Hibbing Bennett Park

Hibbing HRA Playground

Hoyt Lakes Public Library

Keewatin City Park

Mountain Iron Public Library

Nashwauk Rec Center

Virginia AEOA

Virginia HRA

Virginia Olcott Park

Volunteers and UWNEMN staff will hand out bag lunches at these locations from noon to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday each week, rain or shine through August 29. Additional UWNEMN volunteers will be on-site Thursdays distributing Summer Buddy Backpacks—bags with food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that children can take home for the weekend—thanks to a generous supporter.

UWNEMN Community Impact Coordinator Michelle Lampton leads the program and says communities are excited for its return.

“This program is filling unique needs in communities where children don’t have many options in the summer,” she said.

The growing reach comes with a challenge, however.

“The further out into our service area we reach, the more reliant we become on volunteers to keep those sites open and keep meals available to local children,” she added.

Volunteers are needed to pick up coolers of bag lunches, transport them to Meet Up and Chow Down sites, distribute and track lunches, and return materials for the next day’s volunteers. To ensure sites can stay open, volunteers are asked to select one day per week for the summer to volunteer if possible.

“I’m proud to say we’ve never had to close a site due to lack of volunteers,” said UWNEMN Executive Director Erin Shay. “The Iron Range is passionate about keeping our local children fed.”

Meet Up and Chow Down lunches are prepared by local schools, grocery stores, and restaurants and made free to the public with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)’s Summer Food Service Program. USDA and MDE guidelines require that children must be present to receive free lunches.

According to No Kid Hungry, only a fraction of children who need help when school is out of session are able to access the federal summer meals program, especially in rural areas where it can be difficult to get to community sites from home during the workday.

“We are doing our best to ensure the children who need these programs the most actually have access to them,” Shay said.

Individuals, companies, or organizations interested in staffing a Meet Up and Chow Down site for one day a week (either for one month, two months, or the whole summer) can visit www.unitedwaynemn.org/volunteer.

Meet Up and Chow Down lunches and Buddy Backpacks will not be served June 19 or July 1-4 in observance of federal holidays.