The Triton School Corporation served thousands of meals to students in need this summer.
During Monday’s School Board meeting, Triton Superintendent Donna Burroughs says she acknowledged the work their summer meal program is doing. The program provides breakfast and lunch to students who may not otherwise receive it at home while school is not in session.
Burroughs says she thinks the program went well this year.
“I don’t know I can say that kids would be going hungry without it, but I’m sure it helped out a lot of families on tight incomes that at least some of the meals during the summer could be obtained at school,” says Burroughs.
The summer food program at Triton is carried out every day during the month of June.
Numbers from the program indicate that more than 800 breakfasts were served to area school children. Just under 1,500 lunches were also served. The summer lunch program is hosted alongside Triton School Corporation’s summer school program, according to Burroughs.
She says the number of meals served during the summer lunch program does not really surprise her.
“We do the Blessings in a Backpack because we have a lot of families: the kids will come to school on Monday and say they hardly had anything to eat over the weekend so we send home food on Fridays in backpacks,” says Burroughs. “I think that’s pretty common in a lot of our communities. It’s hard times for a lot of people out there.”
Blessings in a Backpack is a non-profit organization that serves weekend meals to students already qualifying for free and reduced lunch.
The Triton School Board also updated a few board policies as recommended by education organizations.
