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Summer food program helps city youth By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
SPRINGFIELD For many of Springfield's children, participation in the summer food program isn't just a choice -- it is essential.
At a press event at the Kiley Middle School last week noting a $24,000 grant given by Project Bread to the city, Bel Winegar of Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts explained that at-need parents are given a set amount of food stamps. During the school year, children are given both breakfast and lunch. But in the summer, parents may not have enough food stamps to pay for those meals normally supplied at school, she said.
"The money doesn't go that far," she added.
"This [summer food program] is a critical resource for city families," Christina Jordan of Project Bread said.
In October of last year, the state's Department of Education announced that 76.8 percent of Springfield children enrolled in public school are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. Only 40 percent of those eligible children were participating in the school breakfast program.
According to statistics supplied by Project Bread, Last year an average of 3,890 children participated in the summer food program in the city. When compared to the number of children eligible for the free to reduced price school meals, there appears to be 17,590 additional children who would be taking advantage of the summer program.
A collaboration between the School Department, the Springfield Girls Club Family Center and the Episcopal Diocese of West ern Massachusetts, the summer food program has been providing meals for children at 48 sites throughout the city. Some of those locations are still open (see list below) and children 18 years of age and younger can enjoy a meal with no registration or identification required.
The program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture and administered by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Some of the sites are participating in a pilot program sponsored by Project Bread that feature fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy products in menus developed with the Harvard School of Public Health. Several sites in Springfield are also serving locally grown produce as part of Project Bread's Locally Grown Foods Initiative. The $24,000 grant was used to fund these two programs.
The following is a list of food sites that are still serving meals. For more information on the program call 1-800-645-8333.
Dream Inc.
1500 Main St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Breakfast: 8:30 -- 9:30 a.m.
Lunch: 12:30 -- 1:30 p.m.
Adams Park
Wilbraham Rd. & Norfolk St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Afternoon snack: 3- 4 p.m.
Supper: 6 -- 7 p.m.
Forest Park Boys & Girls Club
361 Sumner Ave.
Meals provided through Aug. 29
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.
Emily Bill Park
Franklin St.
Meals provided through Aug. 22
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.
Emerson Wright Park
Marble St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.
Edgewater & Pynchon Apartments
101 Lowell St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Breakfast: 9 -- 10 a.m.
Lunch: Noon -- 1 p.m.
Hubbard Park
Parker St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Breakfast: 8:30 -- 9:30 a.m.
Lunch: 12:30 -- 2 p.m.
DeBerry School
670 Union St.
Meals provided through Aug. 22
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 11:15 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.
Colonial Estates Boys & Girls Club
One Beacon Circle
Meals provided through Aug. 29
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: Noon -- 1 p.m.
Christ Church Cathedral
35 Chestnut St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: Noon -- 12:30 p.m.
Chestnut Park
68 Harrison Ave.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: Noon -- 12:30 p.m.
Afternoon snack: 3 -- 3:30 p.m.
Calhoun Park
Dwight St & Jefferson Ave.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: Noon -- 1:30 p.m.
Barrows Playground
Tyler/Walnut St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: Noon -- 1:30 p.m.
Afternoon snack: 3 -- 3:45 p.m.
Dunbar Community Center
33 Oak St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 11:15 a.m. -- 12:15 p.m.
Afternoon snack: 2:15 -- 3:15 p.m.
Ulloa Playground
Dwight/Morgan St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.
Springfield Girls Club Family Center
100 Acorn St.
Meals provided through Aug. 29
Monday -- Friday
Supper: 7:30 -- 8:30 p.m.
Springfield Boys Club
481 Carew St.
Meals provided through Aug. 22
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: Noon -- 1 p.m.
Spring Meadow Apartments
176 Canon Cir.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: Noon -- 1 p.m.
Afternoon snack: 3 -- 3:30 p.m.
Riverview Apartments
82 Division St., Court
Meals provided through Aug. 29
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 12:15 -- 1:15 p.m.
Rebecca Johnson School
55 Catherine St.
Meals provided through Aug. 22
Monday -- Friday
Breakfast: 8 -- 9:30 a.m.
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 1 p.m.
Margaret C. Ells School
319 Cortland St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 11:15 a.m. -- 12:15 p.m.
Magazine Playground
St. James Ave. & Bowdoin St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.
Afternoon snack: 2:30 -- 3 p.m.
Liberty School
962 Carew St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Breakfast: 8:30 -- 9:30 a.m.
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.
Johnny Appleseed Park
Orange/Hancock/Mill St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.
J.C. Williams Community Center
116 Florence St.
Meals provided through Aug. 15
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: Noon -- 1 p.m.
Reed Village
49 Lionel Benoit Rd.
Meals provided through Aug. 29
Monday -- Friday
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.
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