While the onset of summer is a positive for many school children in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District, it also means that about 30 percent of kids will no longer have access to nutritious lunches.

That’s why Food for the Summer, a summer lunch program for school-aged children of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, is hoping to surpass the 45,000-plus meals the initiative served last summer.

Director of Food for the Summer Carolyn Brandt, who is currently working toward her master’s degree in social work and public health, said nutrition is central to the development process of kids.

“Nutrition is super important for retaining information when kids are learning,” said Brandt. “We need our kids to be getting five food groups; we need them to be getting three meals every single day.”

The numbers show that this simply doesn’t happen, as nearly 30 percent of the district’s students qualify for free-and-reduced lunches.

This is why Food for the Summer, which was spearheaded by Mayor Pam Hemminger after her 2015 election, aims to be as inclusive and easy to access as possible. This year’s organizers are also planning on including summer enrichment activities to keep kids mentally and physically active while they’re out of school.

“Any kid who’s under the age of 18 can come up and get a meal and then take part in the enrichment activities,” said Brandt. “We love it when families come along, and there’s no documentation or anything that kids need to supply to get the meal.”

The program is entirely volunteer-run and consists of about 15 different sites throughout the community where volunteers provide children with lunches provided through school cafeterias.

As it approaches its third year, Food for the Summer has grown considerably and now teams up with community partners such as TABLE, PORCH, and Americorps to maximize their efforts.

A kickoff event for Food for the Summer is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Northside Elementary School. The first day meals will be served will correspond with the first day of the summer break on Friday, June 8.

For more information on Food for the Summer or to get involved, visit foodforthesummer.org.

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