School programs fill hunger: More than 30,000 meals served over summer

When only a handful of children showed up for lunches, Greenwood school officials considered shutting down the district’s summer food program just a few weeks after it started.

Greenwood began its program this year after seeing the turnout at other districts’ summer programs last year. School officials knew not all of their students were eating regularly over the summer, too.

But when summer came, only about 25 students came each day to eat lunch at the school district’s site at Isom Elementary School, food service director Cheryl Hargis said.

In order to cover the costs of the workers and the food, the district needed about 50 children to get food each day. Officials considered shutting the program down, knowing the number they were getting wasn’t enough to keep serving lunches.

But as word of Greenwood’s program spread, more students came for lunch. Eventually Hargis set up a second site for lunches, and by the end of the summer more than 2,800 meals had been given out, she said.

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