A summer program meant to make sure children are fed while school is out is looking for more families to visit new sites in Franklin that opened this year.
Franklin, Greenwood and Clark-Pleasant schools, along with a Girl Scout in Edinburgh, are operating the summer programs that serve free meals to any child 18 and younger.
For some parents, the meals are a financial help as their children normally receive free or low-cost lunches while in school. For others, the meals are a convenient way to grab healthy food while they are out of the house, rather than going to a fast food restaurant.
Anastasia Duis brought her 6-year-old son, Jeremy, to get a taco lunch on Tuesday. Duis said she appreciates being able to get the free meal for her son because she didn’t have to worry about him being fed.
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They joined families seated at picnic tables at the Johnson County Public Library Franklin branch, which is one of 10 locations in the county where parents can go to get free meals for their children over the summer.
Leah Taylor, who lives in Nineveh, stopped to get lunch for her 5-year-old son Atticus and his friend, who she had brought to story time at the library and then was going to the Franklin Family Aquatic Center.
“It’s a great little meal,” Taylor said. “It gets them something better than McDonald’s.”
After a slow start at a couple of new locations, Franklin school officials running the summer lunch program there are hoping nicer weather and increased outreach to the community will lead to more meals being served.
Both Franklin and Clark-Pleasant schools adjusted some of the locations where they serve meals this year, with the goal of being able to serve more families this summer. In Franklin, that meant ending meals at some apartment complexes and adding them at a library and park. Clark-Pleasant schools closed a site at a mobile home community and elementary school, while adding one at a preschool.
Overall, Franklin is on pace to equal the amount of meals served last year, averaging nearly 300 meals served per day, said Jill Overton, food services director at Franklin schools.
But most of the families are eating at established sites, such as Northwood Elementary or Countryview Mobile Home Community instead of newer locations they had set up at Payne Park and the Franklin library branch with the goal of attracting additional children and parents, she sad.
They’ve averaged about a dozen meals served each day at the library and half that at the park, Overton said.
New locations tend to start off slow, so the hope is that more kids will be coming once parents become aware of the option, she said.
They’ve posted large banners at both sites now, and handed flyers out throughout the neighborhoods near Payne Park as the school year was ending. The plan is to make automated call to parents, reminding them of the summer lunch program, Overton said.
In Edinburgh, a new summer lunch program began this year has had almost 100 children and parents show up each time for free meals, which was on the high end of what they were anticipating, said Abby Sweet, a 17-year-old who will be a senior at Southwestern High School in Shelby County next year who is organizing the lunches as part of a Girl Scout project.
They had initially expected the turnout to be closer to 50 to 60 people, and had to make a quick trip to a nearby grocery store in order to have enough food when more than 90 people came the second day they were serving lunches, Sweet said.
They’ve since adjusted the amount of food they are preparing beforehand to make sure they have enough for everyone, she said. A local church is assisting in providing the money for the meals and will be reimbursed through the USDA, she said.
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Ten locations throughout Johnson County offer free meals for children age 18 and younger, using funding from a USDA program. Here’s when and where those meals are served.
Clark Pleasant: Through July 13, excluding July 4
- Sawmill Woods Preschool, 700 Sawmill Road, New Whiteland; 11 a.m. to noon
- Pleasant Crossing Elementary School, 3030 N. County Road 125W, Whiteland; 11:30 a.m. to noon
- Summerfield Park, 275 W. Worthsville Road, Greenwood; 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.
- Village Crossing Apartments, 20 Village Crossing Drive, Greenwood; 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Franklin: Through July 31, excluding July 4
- Northwood Elementary School, 965 Grizzly Cub Drive; 8 to 9:15 a.m.; 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Note: Due to construction, drivers must use the back entrance off Clark Street.
- Johnson County Public Library Franklin Branch, 401 State St.; 11 a.m. to noon.
- Payne Park, 301 N. Water St.; 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.
- Country View Mobile Home Community; 11:30 to 11:50 a.m. Note: Meals served at this site are for residents of Country View only.
Edinburgh: Tuesdays and Thursdays, through July 26
Edinburgh Park and Recreation Shelter House, 722 S. Eisenhower St.; 11 a.m. to noon.
Greenwood: Through July 20, excluding July 4
Isom Elementary School, 50 E. Broadway St.; 11 a.m. to noon.
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