The Edison Local School District has kicked off its Seamless Summer Option (SSO) Program to sustain students while they are out of school.
The program, which is an extension of the national School Lunch and Breakfast programs, is designed to continue providing healthy meals to students over the summer months in an effort to combat child hunger. Once approved through their state agency, school food authorities (SFAs) serve meals free of charge to children ages 18 years and under from low-income areas.
Christine DelGuzzi-Chipps, district director of food and nutrition through Nutrition, Inc., said this is her third year with the program and the latest program began on June 4 at Edison High School in Richmond and runs on Tuesday through Thursday at 7 a.m.-1 p.m. It will close from July 1-5 for the Independence Day holiday then resume on Monday through Thursday from July 8-Aug. 15. She noted that hundreds of meals have already been served.
“In only the first two days, we served 260 breakfasts and 355 lunches,” she said. “Students are offered choices between one hot entree and two grab-and-go items at breakfast, plus milk, fruits and hot and cold vegetables and at lunch they are offered a choice between two hot entrees, peanut butter and jelly and one milk, fruit and hot and cold vegetables. Because the SSO is an extension of the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, we follow the same meal patterns.”
DelGuzzi-Chipps added that students were not required to register for the free program because the district yields a population greater than 50 percent eligible for free and reduced lunches and Edison is able to offer meals at no cost to those under age 18.
“The program is not entirely grant funded. We have a supply chain grant that assists in the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables and milk. We also receive government commodities from the USDA throughout the school year that assist the district in the purchasing of food. However, the majority of the food we provide to the students is paid for by the district. The district does receive reimbursement rates for each meal served of $4.27 for lunch and $2.37 for breakfast,” she explained. “The food used is purchased through a combination of local vendors and Performance Group food services. We make effort to shop Ohio Proud, using Sirna and Sons, United Dairy and Nickles Bakery. The students just come into the cafeteria at EHS and choose from the options provided that day. They are able to sit in the cafeteria and enjoy their meals with other students.”
She added that nutrition programs like SSO make sure students have access to healthy meals over the summer break.
“During the school year, meals are available to kids through school breakfast and lunch, but kids lose critical access to meals during the summer when schools are out. To fill this gap, we operate the SSO to provide meals to kids at no cost to them,” she said.
For more information about the program, contact the school at (740) 282-0068 or go online to www.helpdesk@edisonwildcats.org.