The Douglas County School System Summer Meals Program continues to expand, providing up to 3,000 meals a day to children across the county since early June.
DCSS Executive Director of School Nutrition Danielle Freeman said the program has been offered at several local schools, Hunter Park, Deer Lick Park, the Douglas County Boys & Girls Club, Cornerstone Baptist Church, and other community sites. Meals are also being provided to all five DCSS high school football programs during summer practices, she said.
“For me, I look at it as we have 25,000 students in Douglas County,” Freeman said. “We know we feed over 17,000 for lunch a day. There are kids that are hungry during the summer. So, if I can provide meals anywhere, then that’s what we’re trying to do.”
The meals are free to all children 18-and-under in the county, regardless of whether they are students in the school system.
Freeman said students definitely have a favorite menu item.
“Nachos are always going to be a favorite, no matter summer or in the school year,” she said.
The program will take a break during the week of the Fourth of July before continuing only at Lithia Springs High School from Monday-Thursday of the following week. Breakfast is served from 8-8:30 a.m. and lunch is served from 12-12:30 p.m. at LSHS.
Freeman said when she first started at DCSS over a decade ago, the Summer Meals Program was focused on students attending summer school.
Since then, she and her team have expanded the program to different sites in the community as well as adding the local athletic programs.
Moving forward, Freeman said her goal is to purchase more vans so that the program can be expanded even more within the community.
“Summer is very hard,” she said. “So, if we can make a difference by providing meals to students, or children period — because you don’t have to be a student to eat with us — it’s helpful, and it should hopefully make a difference.”