This summer is officially a ‘seamless summer’ for children relying on the Food for the Summer program. Program director Katie Hug announced the service will continue for an additional two weeks – providing meals up until August 26, the Friday before school starts.

Originally slated to end on August 12, Hug said the program’s success is helping it to continue seamlessly throughout the rest of the summer.

“At this point, of all of the Chapel Hill and Carrboro City Schools within our district, children who have been served would be 45,773 meals as of August 10,” Hug said.

The program is supported by local volunteers and businesses who donate time, food and other resources to the team. Three different schools within the district have provided spaces for the program to organize.

“There are 28,531 lunches, and even more exciting in my opinion, is being able to highlight that 15,000 of those lunches were served or delivered by Food for the Summer volunteers,” Hug said.

Tyler Weidig is a spokesperson for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, which is partnering with Food for the Summer.

“The food bank is a sponsor for the summer feeding program and what we do is provide the food and administration for the sites,” Weidig said.

Weidig says the lull in organized programs before school starts can be harmful to children’s nutritional needs.

“A lot of times schools have to close a couple weeks early to prep for school,” Weidig said. “So we’re happy to fill in this gap so that during these last two weeks of summer, these kids can still get a balanced meal.”

Weidig says by partnering with Food for the Summer, the food bank acknowledges that the summer months can be a difficult time for families.

“It’s hard for people to think about,” Weidig said. “They think about summer as vacation and having fun, but sometimes this is the hardest time for families but Katie has done a great job of stepping into this community.”

Hug says the volunteers have made the program special by bringing arts and crafts to the meals, providing books and other games to entertain the kids. Those volunteers will be celebrated in an upcoming event.

“We’ve had some amazing volunteers and we’re really excited that we’re going to be able to celebrate those volunteers so stay tuned for an event.”

But until then, over 200 volunteer shifts still need to be filled over the next two weeks. The program needs help assembling lunch bags and distributing and serving food.

“There are still plenty of opportunities to get involved,” Hug said. “It’s about an hour and a half of someone’s time to show up, get the food, learn a little bit about what you’re going to do then go interact with the kids and feed them.”

More information about the program and how to help finish out the seamless summer can be found at foodforthesummer.org.

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