ST. LOUIS _ Operation Food Search is launching an expanded summer program this week, providing free meals to children who would normally eat breakfast and lunch at school.
Some of the meals will come from food truck-like vans.
Continuing through Aug. 11, program leaders plan to distribute more than 100,000 meals to hungry children in St. Louis and St. Louis County, exceeding last year's record. The summer program, now in its sixth year, has grown from providing 5,000 meals in 2012, Executive Director Sunny Schaefer said.
About 15 percent of the meals given out last summer were from food vans, a concept that had not previously been tried in St. Louis.
"What we saw last year is some of our children would count on us being there every day," Schaefer said.
More routes and stops have been added this year. Also new, a group of AmeriCorps members will lead activities for the children at each stop the vans make. Schaefer said the idea was for children to associate the van with fun and play, which might encourage them to show up for meals more often.
"We want to reach more children," she said.
The vans should be easy to spot _ they are brightly colored and have the words "food and fun" painted on the sides. Each van makes 11 stops Monday through Friday and spends about 20 to 30 minutes at each location.
In addition, numerous stationary food distribution sites will be open at various times every week. For information on when and where a food site will be open, people can visit the summer program's website at wefeedkidsstl.org. The website includes Operation Food Search's locations as well as those for other organizations.
During the school year, about 10 million lunches are served every month in Missouri through the National School Lunch Program.
When school isn't in session, access to nutritious meals may become difficult for children in low-income families.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture funds the Summer Food Service Program to help fill the gap between the last day of one school year and the first day of the next. However, participation in the program remains low when children lack transportation to meal distribution sites or don't know about the program.
Nonprofit organizations such as Operation Food Search use a food truck model to bring the meals to the children.
In Missouri, 51 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches _ a measure of poverty _ according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's most recent available data. Only 9 percent of students who receive free or reduced-price lunches during the school year participate in the summer program.
Because of low participation, the Food Research and Action Center places Missouri's summer program at 44th out of the 50 states.
The St. Louis region has a particularly dire need for children's meals. More than 88 percent of students in the St. Louis Public Schools, for instance, are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.
Children and teens can find nearby free food during the summer by texting "FOOD" to 877-877. They will receive a text with the address of a service site closest to them.
Anyone interested in volunteering this summer can find information on the Operation Food Search website. Schaefer said the group was always looking for people to help prepare meals.
