Boys & Girls Clubs’ New ‘Lunch Box’ Food Truck Provides Job Training, Free Meals for Kids

A new food truck, primarily funded through San Diego County’s K-12 Community Grant Program, will soon hit the streets of North County.

Officials from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside displayed the new truck and menu at a recent community barbecue. The truck, called the Lunch Box, will provide fresh, healthy and free meals to children in neighborhoods near the clubs.

The truck adds a new choice for the club’s Culinary Options and Opportunities for Kids (COOK) program which offers job skills to youth ages 14 to 18. They can apply for paid internships to help prepare meals for children at the club or now, for catering on the Lunch Box.

The grant also helped fund two other club programs – Youth CanTEEN Food Truck Mentorship and one that allowed meals to be prepared for over 600 children.

The goal of the CanTEEN program was to provide skills and mentorship connections at-risk teens need to find jobs in San Diego restaurants. Over the course of a year 55 young people participated, and showed improvement in academics, work readiness and community connections.

The county and the San Diego District Attorney’s Office awarded the Boys and Girls Clubs of Oceanside grants as part of a program funded by court fines imposed as a result of the successful prosecution of one of the nation’s largest fraud schemes targeting state dollars intended for K-12 education.

Additional support for the project came from the city of Oceanside, the Parker Foundation, First Citizens Bank and Buffalo Wild Wings Foundation.

“Because of their commitment to the program, we can address food insecurity while investing in the future of young people by providing them with workforce readiness and on-the-job experiences,” said Jodi Diamond, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Oceanside.